The Abnormal: Amane's Tale
by AlcatrazOutpatient
Summary: Spin-off of The Others series. Amane is four years old and thinks her room is haunted. Little does she know that this ghost will change her life forever. Lateshipping, AbnormalGodshipping. Spoilers to The Others: The First Year
1. The Girl and The Moonlit Ghost

**The Abnormal: Amane's Tale**

**Disclaimer:** Yu-gi-oh! Duel Monsters is owned by Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, and TV Tokyo. All names were changed to the characters of this fandom in order to protect the real people involved in the following incidents.

**Warning:** Mentions of sex, underaged drinking, and incest

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><p><strong>Part 1: The Girl and The Moonlit Ghost<strong>

Amane is four years old and she thinks that her room is haunted.

Sometimes she hears sniffling from underneath the other bed in her room, but can never seem to find out who was making the noise. Other times, she sees a pair of big red eyes looking at her from the darkness, but they're gone the moment she looks back.

She asks her parents about it, but they jokingly chuckle at her childlike fears.

"There's no ghost in your room, sweetie," her mother says in her sing-song voice. "There's no such thing as ghosts."

But she's young and scared and doesn't know what to do. Her parents say that there's no ghost - ghosts aren't real, not real at all - but the red eyes still stare at her from under the other bed.

Amane decides that she needs to trap the ghost and prove to her parents that it exists. She steels a pastry from the kitchen counter and places it on the floor in her room just after her bed time. She throws the blankets over her head, leaving a tiny hole so that she can watch.

As she waits, she wonders if ghosts can get hungry.

They can, apparently, because a few minutes after the tiny two bedroom flat that her family lives in begins to quiet down, the red eyes appear in the blackness. They are then followed by a paler than pale hand and then a whole arm. Then there is another arm and a head of white hair.

She can't tell whether it's a girl ghost or a boy one. It's hair looks like it's been cut jagged with a pair of scissors in a lavatory mirror. Amane remembers a few months back when her mother found hair in the sink and wonders if it was the ghost's. Because if it does belong to it, she doesn't think that it's a ghost at all.

Ghosts can't hold scissors. They can't look in mirrors either. And they certainly can't get hungry, but the ghost is wolfing down the pastry like he's starving.

Amane leaps out of bed and tackles the ghost, dragging it into her parents room to show them her find. It starts crying while they're in the hall and she feels kind of bad for it, but is more excited about the fact that she can now prove the existence of the ghost. Ghost don't exist, hah! She was right, always right.

When she flicks on the light, her parents sit up with blearily, blinking eyes, but she doesn't care and she leaps upon the bed with the crying ghost behind her, yelling at the top of her lungs that she's found it, she's found it. The ghost is shrieking with tears running down its face, but it's real and she can touch it.

Her mother screams and pulls Amane away from it while her father grabs the ghost by the arm and flings it from the room. There's a crunching of boney knees hitting the hardwood floor and an increasingly loud sound of crying. It is quickly followed up by a smack, her father yelling, and then complete silence. Her mother holds her close and waits for his return.

"It's alright," she whispers into Amane's hair. "It's alright. He won't hurt you."

At first, she wonders how a ghost could possibly hurt her. Next, she realizes that the ghost must be a boy because her mother called it a 'he.'

She thinks that he's pretty for a boy, even more so for a ghost.

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><p>The next morning, she finds the ghost hiding under the sink in the kitchen. She only looks there partially by accident and partially because she's curious (her mother is forever telling her not to touch the bottles underneath the kitchen sink). He looks like he's just a ball of white hair and boney arms, wearing one of her mother's old shirts. It is hanging off of his body like a dress. He squirms away from the light and starts to cry again.<p>

Amane smiles at him, "Can ghosts come out in the day?"

He looks up at her between his fingers and his hair, face stained with dirt and clean trails where tears have trailed downwards. He stutters through a "W-w-what?" and his head down again.

"Can ghosts come out in the day?" She asks again, leaning forwards, hoping to see his red eyes. She's never seen anyone with red eyes before. Maybe it's a ghost-only thing.

"I-I don't...k-k-know," he mumbles into his knees.

"Can you come out?" She wonders if he knows that he's a ghost, or if he even is a ghost in the first place.

His whole body starts to shake, "It hurts."

"What?"

"It h-hurts out there. I...I don't l-like it," he looks up at her again before diving back to safety behind his fingers. "The light...hurts me s-sometimes."

"Mom says that you shouldn't touch stuff under the sink," she scolds him. "You should come out."

"No! No! You'll just get me in trouble again! You'll get me in trouble and then he'll make me go away!" The ghost looses all fear of Amane, raising his head completely and shouting at her. He then realizes what he's just said, clams up, and goes back into hiding.

Amane stares it him for a while, listening to him sniffling and sobbing and watching his tiny frame as it is racked with tremors. She reaches forwards and pulls at the shirt he's wearing, feeling the bones of his shoulder through it. His head shoots upwards and he looks at her with wide red eyes.

"Please?" She asks politely, just like her mother taught her. "Pretty please?"

He stares at her like he's never seen another person before. Then, slowly, he uncurls his body from its former position and reaches up to touch her hand. As he runs his fingers lightly over her skin, just touching as if to see if she was real, he whispers, "You're warm..."

"Of course, I'm warm," Amane giggles. "Come play with me. It'll be fun, I promise."

The corners of his mouth twitch into something that could be a smile. Then he follows her out from under the sink and into the real world. He nearly trips on the hem of the long shirt he's wearing in his excitement.

"My name's Amane," she introduces herself.

"I know. I think my name is Ryou," he says back, still staring at her like he thinks she's going to disappear any minute.

Her mother nearly has a heart attack when she sees them playing with Amane's dolls a few minutes later.

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><p>Ryou starts sleeping on top of his bed about a month later. It takes a lot of convincing that, yes, the bed was comfortable and, yes, he wouldn't get in trouble for sleeping on it, but eventually he does agree. Sometimes after her mother tucks her in at nighttime, she jumps out of bed and does the same for him.<p>

She may be young, but even she can tell the difference between the quality in her sheets and in Ryou's. Her's look warm, for starters. His don't at all.

She tells him, as the winter steadily approaches, that if he gets cold at night, he can climb in bed with her. He blushes, staring at his knobby knees, and nods in the shy way that she's grown to like.

Ryou's a pretty boy, Amane thinks. She likes to play with his hair, even though it tangles easily and won't stay in a braid no matter how many times she brushes it. But it's the most amazing shade of white that looks like moonlit water and shining stars. When he sleeps, she likes to watch his chest rise and fall as he breathes.

And as the winter months roll around, in the middle of the night, when Amane is sometimes awoken by cold hands and feet as he crawls into bed with her, she wonders if it was possible to glow with happiness. Because that's what she feels like she's doing.

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><p>Amane learns to dislike school because she doesn't have the same classes as Ryou. They cling to each other with all their might as their respective teachers try to pry them apart. She spends half the day wailing for her white haired ghost to return to her and there is nothing that the adults can do to calm her.<p>

They won't let Ryou anywhere near her. She doesn't know why, but she hears the teachers mentioning something about her father. She tries to sneak out of the class but is caught several times in the attempt. After the fifth try, she gives up and pouts in a corner, refusing to talk to anyone or anything until she sees Ryou again.

This becomes a daily occurrence with the pair of them. Amane over hears Ryou's teacher telling her mother that sometimes they are unable to find him after he is dropped off in the mornings. She thinks that the adults are stupid. They should just check in any cupboards; that's where Ryou always hides.

When they come home at night, they cling together like they're a single being with extra arms and legs. They won't be separated again. They won't - they won't - they won't.

But they are, every single day, and Amane is determined to change that. She has to be with Ryou and no stupid adult is going to tell her otherwise.

When, finally, one of her escape attempts actually leads to success, she finds him crying in the corner of his class while one of the other boys pulls at his hair. Amane leaps forward and, in a display of uncharacteristic violence, bites at the boy's hand until she draws blood.

Her parents are called in and the teachers beg them to put the two of them in the same class - "Please, we can't take anymore of this" - but they refuse. Nothing, not even when one of the women offers to pay them large quantities of money, will make them budge.

Amane is so angry that she finds a frog and sticks it in her parent's bed when she gets home. They blame Ryou for it. She never does something like that again.

If there's one good thing about the whole school mess, it is at her parents are forced to buy Ryou some half decent clothes. At least, she thinks, he doesn't look like he's wearing a dress all the time now.

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><p>Amane is five when Ryou asks her to marry him.<p>

It sudden and happens a few hours after her parents get the invitation to one of her father's many cousins wedding. He tears open the delicate envelope and stares for a minute at the card inside.

"Kallie's getting remarried," he mentions to her mother. "To her boyfriend."

"What was his name again, dear?" Her mother asks.

"Charlie. Charlie Corcoran. We met him once," he explains. "At Bart's funeral. Nice man. Good family."

"That's lovely. When is it? We should attend."

She leaves to go tell Ryou. She finds him behind the couch, tugging at his trousers. He's still not used to wearing normal clothes.

When she relays the message, he's confused. "What's married?" He asks.

"Well," she thinks of how to phrase it because she's never heard of anyone know knowing what marriage is about. "When two people love each other, they get married. There's a big party in a church...oh, and there are rings, too. They give each other a ring and then they're together forever as husband and wife."

He blinks at her in confusion before saying, "Do you want to marry me? That way we can be together forever, too."

She doesn't realize it then, but that is the question that changes her life forever.

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><p>Amane is seven and believes without a doubt that, someday, she will marry Ryou.<p>

There are no ifs, ands, or buts. There is no or elses or maybes. It is simply the truth. When she pictures her future, she sees an older version of herself walking down the aisle in a beautiful white dress with Ryou standing near the alter. Sometimes Amane sees her parents in the audience, sometimes she doesn't. Most of the time the faces of the guests are blank and featureless, but she doesn't care. Her moonlit ghost stands tall and handsome for her, a smile gracing his features as he takes her hands in his.

She draws pictures of it at school with crayons and coloured pencils. Her teachers give her frightful looks when she shows them what she's created, but they're always scared of Ryou. She doesn't know why. There's nothing scary about him at all.

Ryou likes to draw, just like Amane, but his always turn out better. Sometimes, he manages to sneak a few of his creations into her class, but they're few and far between. She thinks that the kids in his class don't know how to share crayons. Either that, or they break all of his.

But it is the thought that counts and Amane keeps each and every one that he sends her. He surprises her with a handmade card for her birthday and signs it "Love, Ryou." Her heart nearly explodes with joy.

When she gets home, she ignores the presents that her parents got her and rushes over to give him a hug. As an after thought, Amane plants a sloppy kiss on his cheek. Ryou smiles at her the way that he will smile on their wedding day as her parents groan in frustration.

Together forever. She likes the sound of that.

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><p>Most people will think that nine years old is too early to fall in love with someone. They think that children at that age are too emotionally immature to even understand was love is. What they feel is puppy-love, a facsimile of the actual thing.<p>

Most people, though, haven't met Amane Bakura.

Because she is in love with Ryou, in love with the beautiful ghost that used to stare at her from under the bed, that ate pastries in the middle of the night, that hid in cupboards and behind couches, that made her birthday cards in class and signed them with his love. He is moonlight and shining stars and she would do anything for him.

Amane loves him - there's no other explanation for what she feels. She's loved him since she was nine years old and he said that she was pretty.

No one, except her parents, had ever called her pretty before.

She loves him because he likes cream puffs and steak, because he's soft and gentle and a little bit awkward. She loves him because black is his favorite colour and that he likes to sleep in the dark. She loves him because even though her parents hate him with a vengeance, he'll be fine and happy as long as she's with him.

She loves him because when he smiles the world seems to light up with him.

He snatches up her mother's old digital camera and they run around the house, taking pictures of themselves. There's one where Amane's wearing an old party dress that she finds in a box in the storage room. There's another that shows Ryou smiling at the camera, waving his hand shyly. They took the next one together, squashing their faces cheek to cheek so that they could fit in the frame, grinning like there's no tomorrow.

Amane later guesses the password on the family computer and prints out all the pictures. She keeps them in a shoebox under her bed. It's her secret stash where she keeps everything that Ryou's ever given her.

She wonders, wistfully, if his heart would ever go in there - not his real one, of course, because that would just be icky and morbid, but his heart-heart. A very large part of her thinks it already is.

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><p>Amane plans to give Ryou her first kiss the day of the Bakura family reunion. She's eleven years old and giddy; face decorated with a light dusting of make-up, wrapped in a dress that's too elegant for her young age, and butterflies dancing in her stomach.<p>

But she's going to ignore them, because today is the day. Today is the day that she and Ryou would finally kiss and be together. She still remembers his promise to marry her all those years ago. Amane looks down at her dress and pretends that it's white.

Dinner goes smoothly. Her father's family is huge, with lots of cousins and second cousins and aunts and uncles. She spies her aging grandfather in a chair in the back. He's not doing very well; decades of smoking finally catching up with him in the form of lung cancer.

Then the music starts to play and Ryou timidly asks Amane to dance.

It's a slow tune from a year long before she was ever born. She recognizes it faintly, but can't think of a name for either the song or the singer. But that is all put out of her mind when she wraps her arms around Ryou's neck in a tender embrace while he gently places his hands on her waist.

He's beautiful, Amane thinks as she closes the distance between their bodies and leans her head against his chest. As she listens to the beating of his heart - what a soothing sound - he whispers, "You look great" into her ear.

She looks up at him just then and decides that this is the perfect moment. She wants to lick her lips, but doesn't because she might remove the strawberry gloss she put on this morning. Amane knows that he likes strawberries and picked it out just for this occasion.

But just as she is about to press her lips against those of her moonlit ghost, Amane sees one of her second cousins, Maxinne Callahan, speaking with her boyfriend. She's pointing at the two of them and she strains her ears to hear what she's saying.

What Maxinne says changes everything - everything - by sending the world crashing to the floor in a blazing mushroom cloud of fire.

"Don't you think those two are a little close for brother and sister?"

Amane's heart stops. Everything seems to come to a screeching halt. Nothing moves, no one breathes. Everything in existence seems to have paused for one agonizing moment as she registers what she just heard.

Brother and sister? Brother? As in sibling? As in...oh dear god, no please anything but this!

Amane's never been much of a believer but right now she wishes to any being who may be listening that Maxinne was just lying and that Ryou's not her brother at all. Brothers and sisters don't love each other this way. Brothers and sisters don't think each other are beautiful - not like that. They don't kiss and they don't get married and they don't end up together forever, happily ever after either. Not in the way she wants to, at least.

She looks back at Ryou and he's smiling at her. He's smiling and not even remotely shocked. It's almost like he...

No...no this is even worse. Please, god no! Anything but this! He couldn't have known. Ryou couldn't have known that they were brother and sister. It just couldn't happen. He would have told her, wouldn't he?

And he's still smiling. He's smiling and mocking her, how dare he use her feelings like this! Was this his real plan, when he crawled out of that cupboard? To manipulate her like this? To make her feel things like love and then laugh at her when she finally realized the truth? She looks into his eyes and sees something in their red depths that was never the before - something she doesn't like at all.

Lies. Ryou has been lying to her this entire time. This is all his fault and Amane hates him, she hates him so much god damn it.

Why? Why? Why hadn't he told her? Why hadn't her parents told her? Why hadn't anyone told her? Where they'll in it as well? A snarl must have worked its way onto her face because Ryou's grin had dropped and was replaced with a look of worry. He has the utter gull to ask her if something is wrong.

She steps back and slaps him.

Everything changes that day.

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><p>She wakes up in the middle of the night to the crack of thunder and the thought of black and red flames. She is alone in her room for the first time in her life.<p>

She couldn't deal with him, shutting the door to their room - her room - in his face when they got home and refused to let him in. He spent a good hour and a half screaming just outside for her to come back please, Amane! I'll do anything you want, just don't leave me alone! He quieted down shortly after midnight when her - their - parents shouted at him from down the corridor to shut up.

In her dreams, he kisses her softly, telling her that Maxinne was just lying, that their not siblings, and that he loves her beyond anything in the world. She wakes up crying because it's so lovely and reality is so cold.

Amane finds him sleeping under the kitchen table, wrapped in a blanket that they keep on the living room couch. She thinks that the reason why he picked the underside of the table is because he's too big to fit in cupboards anymore.

She runs back to her room when Ryou starts to wake. His sobbing sounds are hauntingly similar to her's.

Amane wonders, as the morning light started to shine in from the window of her room, if Maxinne really was lying. She can't ask her - their - parents because how stupid would that sound after eleven years of living in the same house? She's already shamed as it is, she can't add anymore on top of that. Besides, they didn't tell her before. Why would they tell her now?

And so gh05twr1tt3r is born. The pen name that would come to plague the FBI in later years comes into creation because of a girl who wants to find out if she has a brother. She teaches herself the code of the technological world, finding the open pathways that will let her cruise towards the information she wants. It's difficult, but the day she turns thirteen, Amane breaks into the MI5 database and looks at the information pertaining to the profiles of all UK citizens that they may or may not supposed to have - she doesn't care if they do or don't, she just wants to know because she's waited this long and to be honest, it wasn't even that hard a system to hack.

It's even worse than she thinks. Ryou and Amane aren't just siblings. They're twins.

She then realizes that it's his thirteenth birthday as well. They were both born on the same day one morning in early September. It's jarring, thinking that this day isn't just about her.

Amane hasn't spoken to Ryou in almost two years. She sees him occasionally at school or sometimes in the house, but generally he keeps to himself these days. They still sleep in the same room, but they pretend that the other isn't there. They face the wall as they drift off to dream land instead of what they used to do, staring into each other's eyes until they started drooping.

She tries to call him brother, at least in her head or to herself, but the word is forced and feels wrong on her tongue. Amane simply can't see him as a sibling - a twin. There's no way Ryou could be her brother. Ryou couldn't be that, no matter what the government and her family say. But he is and it nearly destroys her to admit it.

Then to top all things off, her - their - parents announce that they're moving to America in the coming year. And Amane breaks.

It's too much. She can't take it. She gets herself invited to a party with a bunch of 11th years two days before they hop on the plane and drinks herself into a stupor. All she can remember is the pounding of music and the taste of tequila before she ends up dancing with some bloke she's never met before. They kiss sloppily and he drags her off to another room. She's completely inexperienced; the only times that she's come into contact with something sexual is during health classes and when she hears the creaking of bedsprings coming from her parent's room.

It hurts and things get a little fuzzy afterwards, but she remembers the rocking and the slick feeling of something inside her body. The boy's hair is short and blonde, but it's easy enough to pretend that it's long and white. That his blue eyes are red. That his skin is pale like moonlight. That his kisses are gentle and beautiful, not the desperate lip-locking of a male attempting to reach orgasm.

When she cums, she calls out for Ryou. The boy asks her who he is afterwards, but she can't give him an answer. She's already passed out when he starts pulling up his trousers.

She cleans herself up when she gets home. There's glitter that washes out of her hair in the shower. It swirls around near the drain in water that is tinted red. There's a bruise on her neck that she doesn't remember getting and her head pounds like someone's inside tap-dancing with iron-toed boots.

As Amane wraps a towel around herself, Ryou walks in without knocking. He falters when he realizes that she still in there. His hands fist his shirt.

"You didn't come home last night," he mutters.

"What's it to you?" She spits back at him. When has she ever mattered to him? She was just a play toy to him. He never cared about her.

"You smell like a bar," his voice is shaking.

"Again. What's it to you?"

He looks at her reflection in the mirror nervously, "You're bleeding."

Her eyes are wide when she looks downwards. There are a few streaks of dried blood on the inside of her thighs. She yelps, leaps back into the shower with her towel still on, and turns it on full blast. She scrubs and scrubs, but the blood won't disappear.

"Who did this to you?" He calls out from behind the curtain.

"Go away!" She yells back at him. She's angry and ashamed at him - at herself. She remembers what it had felt like when she was pushed over the edge last night. She remembers that it was because she'd pretended that he - her brother, her twin - was the one on top of her, inside of her.

Her knees feel weak when Amane images what it would be like to shower with him. To kiss him under the warm spray. To feel his body against her's. To see the look on his face when he came.

Everything seems too hot and over sensitized, but that may have something to do with her hand creeping in between her legs.

She has to hold herself up when he starts speaking again, "Amane...it's been two years..."

She pretends that the fingers inside her are his, that the wet towel around her is his body. She pretends that she feels Ryou leaving kisses on the back of her neck as he whispers his love to her. She makes a strangled sound that she hopes the boy outside the shower doesn't hear.

"Please, Amane. Please, god, I'll do anything. Anything that you want."

His begging only fuels the fire already ignited in her. She closes her eyes and imagines him saying those words as he thrust into her, pleading for the release only she could give him. She thinks of his face, flushed with pleasure. A part of her - the part that's the most and least connected to reality - wondered what would happen if she told Ryou to drop his pants and fuck her.

But she's too far gone to stop now and all it takes is a final "Please" to make her see stars behind the lids of her eyes. She tries as hard as she can to bite back the sounds before they alert Ryou to what she's just done. She's just fucking masturbated to his voice and had one of the most satisfying orgasms of her, admittedly, very limited sex life.

Amane lowers herself into the tub, shutting off the water because it's gone cold. The real world sets in as she notices that the body around her is just a wet towel and Ryou is whispering outside, "Whatever I did, I'm sorry. Just please don't leave me."

She screams at him, "Get out! Get out! I hate you! I never want to see you again!"

How dare he ask what he did! He already knew the secret he kept from her. He knew what he had turned her into. She decided then, as she hear the door slam shut, that she would prove to him that she didn't need him at all. Amane would prove that she didn't love him.

* * *

><p>Ryou the moonlit ghost is dead.<p>

His body still walks the earth, but it is but an empty shell. There is no life inside as he steps out of the airport and takes his first breath of American air. His body is limp, only making the movements necessary to walk along behind her as Amane follows her parents to the car, nothing more.

He doesn't make a sound as they go through security. He doesn't look at anyone at all. He trips his way off the escalator at one point; that worries her a little because she hasn't seen him trip in years.

But Ryou's eyes are blank. His face gives away no emotion or thought. He is colorless and dull; the glow hat he once possessed is gone.

Amane tries not to cry as her dreams of white dresses shatter and die with him.

But, she thinks as she looks out at the blue sky above her, this is her new beginning. This is her new life, here in America. She would leave behind her past in the country she just left. Now she was Amane Bakura and Amane Bakura wasn't in love with her brother (because that was wrong). She was going to be cool and awesome and everyone would want to be her, so help the poor fool who tried to stop her.

gh05twr1tt3r goes off line because it's uncool for popular girls to be Internet hackers. She hides her box that contains Ryou's old drawings in the back of her new closet where she can't see it and be tempted to think about the life she's left behind. Amane straightens her hair and tries her hardest to look sexy when she walks into her new high school.

Ryou the moonlit ghost is dead, she tells herself. He is dead and he is never coming back. Get over it.

She's right. He will never return to her, not as the ghost at least. But Ryou will come back to her in a different form one day nearly four years later. Until then, though, the empty shell will walk in his place.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello.<strong>

**I love Amane - I really do. I can relate to her a little bit, not in the sense that I'm in love with my brother (I'm an only child), but in the sense that I've done a lot of stuff that I regret to prove that I wasn't who I really am. I'm so glad that her character evolved the way it did.**

**Now I'm sure some of you are wondering about the title "The Abnormal". Considering that I've had stories posted under the title "The Others" and "The Normals" one would think that Amane would fit under one of those categories. But the thing is, she doesn't. She is neither an Other or a Normal; she's something else entirely. Solomon Moto was wrong when he told Bakura that there were _only_ two groups of people. There are more like four: Others, Normals, Ancients, and Abnormals like Amane.**

**As for what an Abnormal is exactly, you will have to wait. I'm not going to give out that information just yet, but if you want to guess you can go ahead guess.**

**I also hopes that this story, as well as any of the chapters that follow it, will help you to get an insight into Amane's side of The First Year. She is a very important character, almost as important as Bakura and Atem, and even though she won't be seen as much in The Second Year, she will have a big role in The Third Year.**

**If there are any questions, comments, or concerns, you can drop me a line on the forum or leave a comment. Either way I will get back to you.**

**Until next time,**

**AlcatrazOutpatient**


	2. The Girl and The Dark Phantom

**The Abnormal: Amane's Tale**

**Disclaimer:** Yu-gi-oh! Duel Monsters is owned by Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, and TV Tokyo. All names were changed to the characters of this fandom in order to protect the real people involved in the following incidents.

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><p><strong>Part 2: The Girl and the Dark Phantom<strong>

Amane is fourteen years old and thinks that her house is haunted.

It's not the moonlit ghost again, but a dark phantom that glides from room to room, dressed in the black shawls of the night. He is blank and eerie, dead to all the going ons in the world. The phantom scares her because Amane remembers what he was like when he was alive.

The phantom is angry, glowering at her from between the cracks in doorways, the junctions of rooms. Sometimes she glimpses him out of the corner of her eye, but he disappears whenever she looks back.

Amane avoids his room, which is more of an enlarged storage cupboard than a place to sleep, like it contains a fiery pit that leads straight to Hell. She's afraid that if she goes in there, she'll find the dead, rotting body of the boy she once loved - still loves - and know that she caused his death.

Sometimes she dreams of him, like she did when she was younger, but it is different at the same time. Amane's moonlit ghost had been replaced by the dark phantom there, too. And while the ghost showered her in sweet words and sweeter kisses, the phantom had taken on a form much more sexual.

She's under him and he kisses and touches her everywhere at once. Sometimes, he brings her to completion without even fucking her, just with his fingers and his mouth and the whispered words of "I love you" in her ears. When the phantom that haunts her dreams does decide to finally do it, his lovemaking is agonizingly slow and he stares at her the entire time. It makes her feel more self-conscious than being naked ever would.

When she wakes up, Amane feels cold and clammy and, most of all, alone. It takes all of her will power and all of her fear of his room not to walk down the hallway and jump him.

In the morning, she sees him slide into the kitchen of their new house, across the ocean from the place she grew up calling home. She watches him as he slathers some jam onto a hunk of bread and chews it as he walks away. Her - their, and she's still not used to saying that - parents chatter away about something on the news. Amane pokes at her first attempt at fried eggs, coming to the conclusion that they are passable and non-toxic. She feels the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and she her eyes flick towards the doorway. The phantom is staring at her.

His eyes are like glowing embers, an unnatural shade of red that makes him seem much older than she knows he is. Amane wonders, and then doubts her herself for thinking such nonsense, if it was something other than a kind of weird disease that colored them that way.

The phantom is wearing her father's old shirt. It's black and goes down to his knees. His arms look like skinny poles of white, shifting out of the darkness that cloaks his body. His face is pale, with features chiseled into rigid, cold stone. Amane swallows hard as she tries to keep his gaze, wishing for beautiful Ryou to come back to her or, at the very least, for him to show some form of emotion. Something. Anything to distract her from remembering his voice, something she hasn't heard since they moved to America.

She blinks and he's gone, the front door closing so softly that she barely hears it over her mother's voice. The fork drops noisily from her hand as she bursts into silent tears.

Amane leaves before her parent's notice her sadness. If they do, they would smother her with their concern. She doesn't believe that they genuinely care about her. If they did, they would have told her about Ryou being her brother. If they had, none of this would have happened. If they had, she would be normal.

But they hadn't. And neither had he, so he is somewhat to blame for this entire mess as well. Her old hatred for him wells up again and threatens to take hold. She shoves it down as she grabs her bag to go to school.

Amane touches up her make up in the mirror. She's going with a glittery green today and a subtle shade of red for her lips. Her hair naturally falls straight and she pulls it up into a ponytail. She specifically picks a shirt that rides up a little around her stomach, just to give a little tease, and is cut low to show more than a hint of cleavage. Her jeans look like they're sprayed onto her legs, but she doesn't care. She's hot and people love it. They can't get enough of her.

Besides, boys think that her accent is sexy. She's exotic and different, cool and assertive. Guys like that. It makes her popular.

It makes her forget that the boy she really wants in completely unattainable. It makes her forget that she's in love with the phantom that haunts her home.

* * *

><p>"Him?"<p>

"...Six. Him?"

"Ew. Two. Him?"

"Four. How about...him, over there?"

"Who? Oh...OH! Hello, hotty! Perfect ten, all the way!" Tea cheered, eying the guy walking by their bench at the mall. "If he didn't have kids hanging off his arm, I'd be all over him."

"Like you'd let that stop you," Amane joked as the man turned his head towards us. Tea winked and waved flirtatiously. He looked away nervously, holding his children closer to act as chick deterrent. We burst out into mad giggles.

Tea Gardner was easily the most coveted girl at Domino High. She was on the cheerleading squad, which in Amane's rather private opinion was an outdated thing for schools to have that was only really there so that boys could look up girl's skirts with no consequences. Tea could easily get any guy she wanted and did, too. She talked like she'd walked straight out of Mean Girls.

Tea could be a little ditzy sometimes. She seemed to have her mind completely wrapped around boys. Still, she was a good friend to have and an awesome dance partner for when they went to parties. She, unlike Amane, could hold her liqueur enough to get them both home at the end of the night if they didn't manage to snag a guy - which was, like, a one in a million chance, but sometimes did happen.

"Oh my god, did you see his face?" Tea laughed, "I swear, he thought that I was going to chase after him for a moment!"

"I know!" She continued to giggle, but quieted down after a while, "Hey, Tea? What do you think about my..." she has to consciously call him by his correct - and more hated - term, "brother?"

She blinked, "You have a brother?"

Amane breathes a sigh of relief. If Tea hadn't noticed Ryou, then she probably wouldn't. Ever. "Never mind."

"No way! Is he cute?" She refused to let it go, "I mean, you're hot. Any brother you have must be smoking. And with your accent, damn..."

She insists that Amane show her the mysterious brother at school the next day. She's more nervous than anything in her entire life. She's worried that Tea will actually turn her attention to Ryou and he will be forever out of her reach. Because who would go after her when they had Ms. America?

However, Tea is actually horrified by him, "I mean, yeah, he's kind of good looking, but he's such a freak! I can't believe you're even related to him."

Amane can't believe they're related either, but that's a totally different story.

What concerns her, though, that Tea confirmed that Ryou the phantom was 'kind of good lucking'. 'Kind of' implied that he was and that it was possible for someone to like him. The thought of him with any girl aside from her makes Amane want to claw at the eyes of any being with baby making abilities within a good fifteen miles. He was hers and her's alone; she'd gotten there first, damn it. What right did any sleazy slut have to him?

And yet, Amane can't bring it upon herself to make the first move. She's terrified of what he will think. She's terrified of what everyone will think. Their twins, for crying out loud. She shouldn't feel this way towards him at all.

She hooks up with a guy at a party, some hunk she recognizes vaguely from science class. He's got gorgeous green eyes and a sweet ass, but he's a freaking virgin and she looses interest as soon as he cums prematurely when she attempts to give him a hand job. She thinks the rest of the night is going to be the same, until he flips her over - as per her demands because she really doesn't like seeing people's faces when she's having sex - and fucks her doggy style.

Amane's imagination goes into overdrive, conjuring up images of white hair and lips on the back of her neck. She pretends that the hands gripping at her waist are as white as snow and that there is a phantom behind her, driving her insane.

She let's his name slip once. Only once. When she does, Amane's pretend world dissolves and reality sets in. She doesn't cum, but is left more hot and bothered than she cares to admit. She does feel some sympathy for the guy when she hears him muttering another girl's name, over and over, as he is pushed over the edge.

"Serenity," he says through gritted teeth. "Oh-oh god, Serenity!"

Duke Devlin and Amane hit it off, not as boyfriend and girlfriend, but just average friends, shortly afterwards. Neither of them mentions the night that they were together to anyone. It contained too many secrets for both of them and neither wanted to admit what they may have heard the other say.

She is surprised that after becoming sexually active, Duke goes on to rival Tea in the 'Largest Number of Ex's' category at school. He's a goddamn player, but sometimes she catches him staring out the window and in the direction of Domino Hospital where, as she's become recently aware, Joey Wheeler's younger sister is recovering from an eye operation.

At least, Amane reasons, she's not the only one suffering from unrequited love. At least she's not alone in this.

* * *

><p>Joey Wheeler is the one person in the entire world who Amane swears she will never sleep with. Never, never, never. It's not happening, no matter how much he wants to otherwise.<p>

Duke is the kind of guy that radiates confidence and sophistication. He's an upper class rich kid who decided that instead of going to some private high school, he'd rough it with the ordinary folk. He's like a Greek sculpture - one of the few that was able to keep it's clothing on, though that doesn't last for long once the alcohol starts getting passed around.

Tristan Taylor, Joey's BFF, is boring and ordinary in comparison. He's just another face in the crowd, easily forgettable in her mind. She doesn't understand why he even hangs out around them. Joey just doesn't seem to want to let him go.

But unlike them, Joey is neither easy to dismiss from the mind, nor is he the face that becomes engrained into your memory. Joey is the 'Hey, ladies. Are you ready to be treated poorly tonight?' guy.

He's a hick. A Yankee. He's everything infamous about the American teenager that the idea of kissing him makes Amane want to barf all over his shoes. He's the big dumb idiot that she despised everything about.

That doesn't stop her from flirting with him, though.

It's a simple Push and Pull strategy. In order to pull someone towards you, one must push away all the unwanted competition. Joey serves that role well because, really, his ego really needs to be taken down a few hundred notches. The way he talks, one would consider him to be God's gift to women. In reality, he's a lousy kisser - not that she knows from first hand experience or anything, but Tea does and she talks a lot when she's drunk.

His sister, on the other hand, is a complete angel. Serenity is pure and sweet and innocent. She's everything that Amane would have grown up to be, had her parents not lied to her about the true identity of Ryou. Amane could have been Serenity, but now she's stuck with the life of part party girl, part good daughter. She wonders (and hates the fact that she wonders) if the phantom likes innocent girls more than someone who could give him a good lay. A part of her is unreasonably scared about the fact that he might not like that she's not a virgin - some guys aren't into tainted goods.

Amane doubts it though. In fact, she doubts that Ryou has ever even looked at a girl like that before. He hasn't looked at anyone, let alone talked to them. She hasn't heard his voice in so long that she's beginning to forget what it sounds like. That all changes in the late days of April as she nears her sixteenth birthday.

Joey tracked her down, sparking up a conversation under the pretense of the up and coming semi formal dance that the Domino High student counsel is organizing. He wants to go with her. She doesn't want to go at all. Parties are one thing; dances are completely different. Dances meant pretty dresses and Amane can't put on one of those things without thinking of the colour white and how it looks lovely on blushing brides. How she used to want to be that blushing bride as she walked up the aisle towards a now dead ghost.

The conversation, however, turns towards Ryou as he slithers past them rather quickly. She feels a draft as he moves towards his locker, like his presence as made the entire hallway colder. She feels the glance of a red-eyed phantom for an instant, but doesn't turn to look at him. She can't show weakness. She doesn't dare gaze at temptation at all.

"So, he's your brother?" Joey asks the question she's been getting more often than not. Everyone wants to know how she ended up with such a freak as a sibling and Amane doesn't know how to answer them. The title of 'brother' is still something that she can't seem to give the phantom at all. It just sounds, feels, and tastes wrong on her tongue.

"He's so weird," Joey comments. "So, is it true?"

Alarms go off in her head, screaming for her to distract him from his current path. But Amane's inner child comes out to play at the same time, wondering just what was under the forbidden kitchen sink - or in this case, wandering through Joey's head.

"Is what true?" She asks as she puffs out her chest. His eyes look down and he's practically drooling. God, could he get any more disgusting? At least, she thinks, he's been sufficiently distracted by the hypnotizing powers of her breasts and won't be able to remember what he was going to say.

No such luck, it seems and Joey looks up from her cleavage and asks a question that makes Amane's heart stop.

"Is it true that he fucks cadavers?"

Her eyes bulge and at first she can't believe what he just said. Necrophilia? No way, Ryou wouldn't do that. It just wasn't possible. It's disgusting - about as disgusting as incest, but her mind pushes that one away - and Joey starts laughing.

"He's always in that graveyard. I bet he just digs them up and enjoys a cold one. What a freak –"

Then there is a loud crack of boney flesh hitting the back of someone's skull and Joey goes down, clutching the back of his head and swearing profusely. The phantom stands behind him, red eyes ablaze with hatred and anger. His arm is extended in a fist and he growls low and dangerous.

Then he opens his mouth and speaks, "Shut the fuck up, you bloody wanker! Sod off, you arsehole!"

Amane stops breathing. Everyone stops moving, talking, and thinking. For one moment in time, she wants to smile and leap into his arms because his voice is still there and now she can remember it all. Then she realizes just how sharp and rough and livid he is. The sounds of his former gentle shyness are gone and dead, just like the ghost is.

This is the voice of Ryou the phantom. And she hates it.

She laughs at him, mocking that voice, "Oh my god, I can't believe you still talk like that. No one says that stuff anymore."

He turns on her, something he's never done before, "Piss off, Amane. I'm not a Yank and neither are you."

She so shocked by the revelation that the phantom has a backbone and can stand up for himself that she can't get out of the way when Joey gets up and kicks him. He stumbles and fails to catch himself, falling right on top of her.

Oh god.

This must be what Hell feels like, she thinks. This is Hell because she has what she wants within sight and she can't take it. His lips are so close to her's that Amane could just tilt her chin up to kiss him. The phantom's body is sprawled on top of her, but it isn't suffocating. In fact, it's warm and soft and far too nice. She feels like she could melt under him with no regrets.

It scares her just how much she wants to. But she can't because people that she knows surround them. She can't because it's wrong. She's wrong.

So Amane does the only rational thing she can think of: scream her head off.

"Get the hell off me, you loser!" She yells, struggling to knock him off. It's a pretty hard thing to do when she's clinging to his battered and wrinkled shirt like it's the only thing in the world. The phantom's eyes are wide and confused; he doesn't understand what's going on at all as his legs accidentally tangle with her's.

Then she hears Duke's voice, "You're wrong, Joey. The freak doesn't fuck bodies. He prefers something closer to home."

Amane's screams only increase because, oh dear god, they've guessed. They've guessed her deepest, darkest of secrets - her love for Ryou. Ryou the phantom. Ryou the freak. Ryou the loser.

Ryou, her brother.

She shoves him off, quivering and shaking like she's been stuck in an meet locker for a week. Tea grips her shoulders, comforting her and trying to calm her down. Joey pulls the phantom into the middle of the hallway, intent on beating the crap out of him for being 'sick.' He's got the wrong person. Ryou doesn't love her - he hates her more than anything in the world. Amane, however, is the sick one.

But it's Ryou who takes the punches and the kicks instead of her. And as the crowd disperses, she sees him lying on the ground with Joey standing over than him. The jock pulls the phantom up by his long hair and drags him to his feet.

"If you ever touch Amane again, you're dead. You hear that, freak? You're dead!" He threatens, letting go of Ryou and letting him fall back to the floor. He let's out a pitiful cry of pain, but hauls himself up and limps away. He doesn't even look at her.

"It's alright, Amane," Tea whispers to her from behind. "It's alright. He's gone."

No. It's not alright. How could this be alright? She can't afford for people to see them together. She can't afford to be seen even thinking of the phantom in a positive light. Amane has to cut all ties with him, make it seem like she hated him. She had to prove that she didn't love him because no one could ever know about her shame.

* * *

><p>Demetrius Trudge is a jerk. He's her boyfriend for a whole three weeks before Amane dumps his sorry ass. He's arrogant and horrible in bed. She doesn't understand why she keeps him around at all.<p>

He's the fourth guy that she hooks up with in the semester and she decides that she needs to get another one quick. If she doesn't have a boyfriend, people might suspect that what Duke said was true (she refuses to even look at the guy for a whole month after that smart comment). She doesn't love Ryou. Not at all.

She doesn't look at the phantom. Sometimes, though, when he's taking too long in the shower, she yells at him to hurry up, but that's about it. There's as little interaction between them as she can manage. Amane doesn't even flinch anymore when she feels him staring at the back of her head.

Ryou is the talk of the entire school and she does everything in her power to keep it that way. She makes up outrageous lies about him in order to keep him as Domino High's official loser. If no one wants to talk to him, there will be no one to contradict her stories. No one would believe him, because the student population now fears the phantom as much as she fears what he stands for.

She starts going out with some guy named Pete Coppermine, but that only lasts about a week. Amane considers him to be part of her rebel phase because he has emo hair and wears black far too much. It isn't because he was startlingly similar to Ryou in looks. No, not at all.

They fuck once and she doesn't like it. Not because he's bad or anything, but because Pete insists on her facing him. She has to close her eyes as he enters her body. If she looked at him for long enough, his hair would start to turn white and his eyes would glow red.

She breaks up with him soon after. She just can't take that risk. What if she says the wrong name again? It worries her so god damn much and she hates herself for it.

Why, oh why, did she have to be born a twin?

* * *

><p>Amane is sixteen. Sweet six-freaking-teen. She doesn't understand why it's such an important age. It's just another number, as far as she's concerned. Well yeah, now she can learn how to drive, but there's nothing really remarkable about it at all.<p>

Speaking of driving, her parent's sign her up for classes as a birthday present. She wonders if she's going to get a car for her seventeenth, but doubts it. Her family's alright when it comes to wealth, but she wants to buy her first car all by herself. She's been saving up for one since she turned fourteen and she might be able to get a used car before she goes off to college.

For Ryou's birthday - though it's more belated than anything else because it happens a few weeks later - he gets tied to a pole. Naked.

Amane doesn't know about it until after it happens. She had reactivated gh05twr1tt3r over the summer holidays, purely for fun, and has been addicted ever since. It's probably she only thrill during her high school years. Everything else has just become so monotone and boring. Her illegal activities are the only things that seem to really excite her anymore. Hell, even sex has gotten boring. She hasn't cum from anything other than a vibrator in months.

So she's typing away on her laptop, bypassing the FBI's firewall with such ease that she wants to call them up and tell them just how terrible it is, when her phone buzzes. Someone has sent her a message.

It's Tea: 'OMG! D freak hs a tiny dik!'

Attached to it is a picture of her brother, duck taped to a football goal post, completely naked and, worst of all, unconscious.

Amane drops the phone, eyes wide with horror as she realizes that Ryou never came home that night. It was almost two in the morning and the photo looked like it had been taken around sunset. He was still out there.

She deletes Tea's message because it's just disgusting and she can't believe that her best friend did something like that and then decided to send it to her (it has nothing to do with the fact that it looks almost like BDSM porn to her). She's halfway through pulling on a black hooded jacket and tying back her hair before she realizes what she's doing.

She's going to go save the phantom of her nightmares.

Amane's had far too much practice sneaking out of the house to be caught by her sleeping parents. She steals a pair of scissors first before she leaves, as well as a flashlight so she can see what she's doing. She also brings along her bottle of mace, in case some creeper decided that he wanted to mess with her at this moment in time - she doesn't want to think that Ryou would make an easier target in his prone shape.

She doesn't remember most of the trip to Domino High, but she can recall each and ever second of her trek across the football field. She can see the outline of the phantom as she approaches, hung limp from the metal post like a rag doll.

He's asleep, she notices as she comes closer. Amane is amazed that he can sleep in the position that he's in because it looks insanely uncomfortable. She can see that the parts of his skin connected to the tape are colored an angry red, a stark contrast from the rest of his normally pale complexion. She tries to keep her eyes above his waist, but can't. Silently, she spits at Tea despite the fact that the girl is nowhere near her at the moment.

He's not small, damn it. Ryou is perfectly normal sized...for a...guy...yeah...

She's going to stop looking now. Really.

Amane takes out the scissors and cuts through the duct tape holding him up. She is completely unprepared to catch him when he falls forwards on to the ground. Ryou's red eyes snap open and a strangled noise comes from his mouth. She nearly drops the flashlight in shock. She hadn't been expecting this.

He looks up, but turns away quickly. She remembers that bright lights hurt his eyes, but she doesn't lower the light; Amane doesn't want him to recognize her.

She has to try to move her legs several times before she can actually start running the hell away from him. She hears Ryou calling, "Please! Wait! Don't leave me here!" It seems far too similar to the last time he'd begged her for something, except it's him that's naked this time and not her. Amane's cheeks burn a bright red as she bounds back into her room. She throws the clothes she's put on into her hamper and pulls the covers over her head. She tries to sleep, but can't.

It's an hour later when she hears the front door open. One of the stair's creaks as the phantom walks up them. The sound of another door shutting softly.

There is quiet for a whole three seconds and then there is a pained scream. Amane realizes that Ryou isn't in his room, but in the lav. He is probably ripping off the tape. Alone.

This time she actually hears the tearing of tape from skin and then "AAARRRGGGHHHHH!" It's practical torture for her, but no matter what she does, she can't block it out. She cowers in her bed and shakes; eyes burning with unshed tears as whimpers threaten to escape from her mouth.

The screams soon become moans, moans becoming almost inaudible gasps. The door opens again and he treads over to his room. Amane tries not to think about how she hears him sob once - only once and that hurts because he's stronger now and he isn't going to start bawling like he used to. She can't take care of him, comfort him, like she used to. He would never comfort her like that anymore either.

Because Ryou the moonlit ghost is dead and now the phantom walks in his place.

She hates her life so much right now.

* * *

><p>Amane doesn't see the phantom for a week. It's like her parents called an exorcist and removed him from existence. She doesn't dare knock on his door to see if he's okay because she's still scared of its contents.<p>

She doesn't participate in the laughing and joking that her friends partake in on the subject of The Prank. Every time it comes up she tells them that she has to use the loo or go do something or whatever. They're terrible excuses but they are bought, so she isn't complaining. But there wasn't much she could do the entirely escape from the questions and the rumours. People kept coming to her to talk about her 'brother'.

"Go away," she answered, swiping at their phones that all contained the photo Tea took. They waved them in front of her like they were some kind of all access pass to getting her to talk to them, "Get out of my face."

It does nothing to deter them; the vultures of Domino High School can smell gossip a mile away. They want to know everything. Absolutely everything. Amane can't even get away when she goes home for the day. Her cell starts to ring because some idiot - Joey - leaked her number to the entire goddamn student body.

She hates him, hates him, hates him. Joey that is. She can't hate Ryou for this. It wasn't his fault, for once.

It's Duke's fault. It's Tea's fault. It's Tristan's and Joey's fault, too. They did this to him, to her. For once in their lives Amane just wishes that they would think about the consequences of their actions before they go out and make trouble for her. If they knew just what was going on - no, she stops herself. They can't know. No one can know the truth.

The phantom reappears at the breakfast table one morning and she nearly has a stroke. He looks so burnt out and soulless, more blank and empty than he normally does. He is as much of a walking shell of flesh as he was when he tripped his way off the plane and on to American soil. Ryou is dead and chewing his food like it's made of cardboard.

It only gets worse when they go to school. Her old boyfriend, Demetrius, plows his massive meaty fist into the phantom before the first period even begins. Ryou has to fight him off and run to the safety of English class, shouting for everyone to just leave him alone.

When she sees him again, it's the end of the day. She hears through the grape vine that he was in five fights during the day and that Duke Devlin was going to go and find him to finish him off. He'd be gone for good. Amane panic and rushes around school to find him. She needs to say something, do something, to make this all go away. She wants her moonlit ghost back.

She spots him walking out of the boy's loo near the gyms. He doesn't see her as he passes, walking straight by her hiding spot as he tries to straighten out his shirt like he's just put it back on. She follows him, silent and stealthy, as he walks out of the front door and down the sidewalk towards...a flower store?

What? Her mind jumps to all sorts of conclusions. A secret girlfriend? A gift for a crush? Her heart leaps: what if they are for her?

He comes out with a rather pitiful bouquet; there are only three or four flowers and they're a bit wilted. He crosses the street and resumes his trek towards his unknown location.

Amane reassures herself that she is gathering intel and not stalking him for her own need to know what Ryou is doing. She hounds him all the way to a local cemetery. She sees him lay the flowers on a grave, before he sits down and starts talking to himself. She can't hear what he's saying, but instead listens to the hum of his voice, the rising and falling sounds that were Ryou.

They are beautiful when he is not angry and full of wrath.

He gets to his feet after about an hour or so of speaking to no one. Amane wonders if there's something not right in his head but has to hide again as he moves to leave. Just as he turns in the direction of their house, he hisses and clasps a hand over his shoulder.

Suddenly, she is struck by a wave of pain-that-is-not-pain. Amane is assaulted by the burning smell of antiseptics and other smells that you associate with hospitals. It's wrong but it's right at the same time. She can't describe what she feels because it's gone in an instant.

She opens her eyes just in time to see Ryou frown, roll his shoulder and raise his eyebrows.

"Strange," he mumbles. "I could have sworn..."

She strains her ears to hear more, but he's already moving again. Amane hesitates, wondering what to do, but her curiosity gets the better of her and she runs into the graveyard to see whom the flowers had been for.

The stone slab has the name 'Rebecca Hawkins' carved into it. Below it is a set of dates: July 15th, 2008 - November 10th, 2012.

The girl had been four years old.

But as she wandered back home, Amane had to wonder why Ryou had been laying flowers on that grave. She had died in the year before they had moved her, so it wasn't like they had known each other. Right?

* * *

><p>The phantom goes into hiding again a year later, just after taking his SATs. She doesn't understand why because there was no news going around school about anything he had done or anything that had been done to him. She doesn't know who caused it to happen, but she knows when it started.<p>

It's hard to explain because she knows that Ryou didn't walk through the front door after the test (she had secretly waited for him to poke at his cold exterior and find out how well he did). However, when she gives up and walks up the stairs to have a shower, it happens again. It's pain-that-isn't that feels right but doesn't at the same time. She thinks of running water from the shower she has yet to take and of the ocean she flew over on the plane over.

There's a thump inside the phantom's room, like he leapt onto his bed. And then there is a yelp of horror. Then everything goes silent.

What the hell is going on?

Amane frowns but doesn't question it. What can she say? That she's seeing things? No freaking way that there is any way that anyone will believe her.

But that's the start of it. It is also the end of it all because the next time that she sees him he is no longer the phantom. He smirks, powerful and strong, with an entirely straight backbone that just proves to her even more that the ghost is dead and something else is walking in his place.

But this is something completely different.

His whole being screams with confidence as he says that some guy named Moto wanted him to go to some preppy college school, completely passing over her. Amane yells at him to go and fuck himself because who does he think he is? He's failing in almost all of the subjects that he's taking. What do they want with him?

But Ryou's smile only gets wider as she stomps on her old iPad out of revenge. She can't believe this. What the hell is going on?

But the phantom, like the ghost is gone. The phantom has shed his black shawls and stepped out into the light. He burns her with his confidence, his lack of anger, and his whole existence. She can't take it.

But the phantom is dead. And now she doesn't know what to do; what to make of this new Ryou. She hates it and she wishes that he would go away.

He does. For two weeks.

He doesn't comes back the same. He returns a free spirit; different from anything she's ever seen before in him.

Who in the world is this new man? She doesn't know.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello!<strong>

**I'd like to thank the people who reviewed for the last chapter: Malik'sStalker, Coolaloo, heartsneverfall, and oliva.**

**So we've finally caught up with The First Year's timeline. We've also got a bit of insight into some of Amane's Abnormal powers - namely, the headaches that she suffers from. What are they, I wonder?**

**Also, I'd like to apologize about the delay on this chapter, as well as any other delays I may have in the near future. My family is moving to a different city and things are really chaotic around the house right now. I've barely had any chance to relax, let alone write. It doesn't help that I'm going off to university this year, so its like a double move. So, if you don't hear from me for a while, that's what's going on.**

**If you have any comments, questions, or concerns, drop me a line on my forum, write a comment, or send me a PM.**

**Until then,**

**AlcatrazOutpatient**


	3. The Girl and The Living Spirit

**The Abnormal: Amane's Tale**

**Disclaimer:** Yu-gi-oh! Duel Monsters is owned by Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, and TV Tokyo. All names were changed to the characters of this fandom in order to protect the real people involved in the following incidents.

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><p><strong>Part 3: The Girl and the Living Spirit<strong>

Amane is seventeen and she thinks her house is haunted.

It's not the moonlit ghost and it's not the dark phantom. This is a creature she does not know how to deal with. She could handle the phantom. She could even deal with the return of the ghost, but this…this is something she doesn't understand.

He is a spirit. But Ryou's not dead; he's more alive than ever before. More alive than when he was a ghost or a phantom or anything else. He _lives_.

A living spirit is something she can't handle. A living spirit means that there is a body and a mind attached to that soul. It means that she has nothing to be afraid of in his room because his corpse isn't rotting in there. His corpse isn't a corpse and he's alive and walking around.

Ryou's heart beats in his chest. He's probably warm and soft and nice. Amane wonders and wishes that she didn't have to wonder. She wants to _know_.

Amane's not stupid, though. Something caused this change t occur. Something caused the ghost to become a phantom – a part of her hisses "It was your fault" – so something must have caused this. And that something is named Solomon Moto.

gh05twr1tt3r goes crazy trying to find this guy. The FBI stands no chance against her powers over the internet. She burns through their firewalls like they were made of rice paper and smashes through security system after security system with all the grace of a rabid elephant. And she finds him, oh yes, she does.

Solomon Moto. Age 51. Born in Seattle, Washington to Marc Moto and Maddie Moto nee Blaustein. Attended Holy Rosary School and then Eastside Catholic High School. Then he studied archeology at…wait a minute.

There was a gap, in between the years he had been in high school and when he had attended New York University. Amane frowns and digs deeper, looking for those missing four years.

They aren't really missing, just hidden off to the side, out of sight where they hoped that no one would see it. The man's records say that he attended a different school: Atlantis School for the Gifted. When she reads those words, something inside her sings and she thinks of black fire.

She can't find anything else on Atlantis School for the Gifted on the FBI database, so she logs out, leaving behind a nasty little porn bomb to teach them to update their software every once and a while. Amane figures that Google will solve the rest of her problems.

But her mother calls her down for supper. Amane rolls her eyes and leaves her room. And then she sees it. The lights.

They're coming from under his door and all she can think about is tornadoes and the ocean. It hurts her head, pounding that puts hangovers to shame. She's felt it before, back when Ryou walked out of that graveyard after spending an hour talking to that girl's gravestone.

But the lights can't be natural and now that she knows that she has nothing to fear from his room, Amane is very tempted to look inside. But something steers her downstairs, something that she can't explain. She goes downstairs and inhales what her mother made for supper, before bounding up the stairs again.

Amane wants to check Atlantis out, but she sits in the archway of her door and stares at the lights under the spirit's door. The more she looks at them, the less of a headache she gets, but the mental images don't go away. And then she hears it.

Laughter.

Not cruel or mocking laughter, but light and joyous laughter. Ryou is laughing in there. He's happy and smiling and having fun.

Something has changed and she doesn't know what. But she will, that's a promise. She'll find out what has turned him into this spirit.

* * *

><p>Amane like sports, when push comes to shove. She likes football the best – that's European football, of course. She has to make a conscious effort not to call it that because people would get confused. Especially Joey, but that happened more often than not.<p>

She's an average player. She doesn't shriek and squeal when the ball comes anywhere near her, but she's not a complete star at scores a gazillion goals in one game. She's alright, but not great.

And then she trips halfway through the game. She feels her ankle roll in a way that it shouldn't, but she's not a quitter. Amane gets up and plays through the pain. She doesn't let it show on her face until the class over.

She's been playing through pain for a while now. She's had practice. Far too much practice.

But Amane can barely even walk home, so her friends surround her and carry her home. Tea offers to drive; she's got this sporty little convertible that she got for her birthday. She was totally spoiled, but Amane's ankle throbs so badly and she doesn't complain.

She tries to keep a straight face as Joey babbles away and tries to soothe her pain. Amane edges closer to the car door, but can't escape. He offers to carry her inside, but thankfully Duke takes her by the hand and supports her weight all the way inside.

Ryou opens the door and calls her name, questioning and – oh the horror – slightly worried. She flinches away because she doesn't like to feel weak. Especially not around him. He'd never comfort her when she was in pain.

Tea storms by him, pushing him out of the way and shoving him into a wall. The spirit snaps his head towards her, ignoring Amane as he frowns at her. A shiver runs down her spine; there is not rage in his look, just annoyance towards what the girl did.

So much has changed, but what caused it all?

As Duke leads her towards the living room, she catches him glancing back at Ryou. There isn't much of the original hatred that had driven him to attack the spirit just weeks before. Has this changed as well? She doesn't know if she can handle any more change.

Joey asks her what happened. Amane holds back a scoff, "I don't know. We were playing soccer during gym class and I tripped. I was fine for a while, just now…"

She tries to roll her ankle, as if it would have mysteriously healed itself in the last few minutes. It hasn't, she discovers, as pain lances up her leg and makes her bit back a yelp.

Tea asks her if she wants to go to the hospital, but Amane says no. She wants to go with her parents. Part of her, the small little girl who dragged ghosts into their bed, wants her parents to coddle her a little, while another larger part thinks that she wants them to see a physical version of the injuries that they've caused her over the years. They should have told her about Ryou. They should have told her.

And then it happens. The spirit speaks. To her.

"You've probably got a sprained ankle," he says, leaning, relaxed against the archway that leads into the room. Amane can see him breathing, hears it as it leaves his lungs through his mouth. But Ryou's addressing her, speaking to her and he's not angry or livid or much of anything, actually.

Joey spits some comment at him, but the spirit shrugs, "Amane's sprained her ankle; she probably did it when she fell. Tore her ligaments, or something like that."

Amane has to tear her eyes away from him and asks if anyone know how to treat her injury. She prays silently that someone will. Her reasoning is that if Ryou knows how to diagnose it, then he probably knows how to help her. The idea of him playing doctor for her is…far too intriguing for her to admit.

But no one does. No one but him.

Amane nearly panics Ryou clears his throat and off-handedly mentions that _he_ _can_ _help her_. And then something changes again: Ryou's back straightens and a wave of calm seems to roll over his body. He orders her friends to go get things from the kitchen and the bathroom. And then he says something horrible.

Ryou turns to Duke and says, "We're going to have to move her over to the couch."

Amane's heart stops. _We're_ going to have to move her, that's what he said. _We_. Ryou was going to touch her.

No. No this can't happen. Not again, god, not again.

He extends a hand to her and, while she is half tempted to take it, she slaps it away and tries to move herself. Duke stands helplessly on the other side of the room. Amane trips, falls, and braces for the inevitable collision with the ground. And then…and then…

Oh dear god. Ryou the living spirit is warm.

He's warm and he's gentle and just as amazing as she remembers that he was. His heart beats within his chest – she wonders when his arms became so strong, when his shoulders became as broad as they are. He murmurs something in her ear, just like he used to and it makes her want to fall back on her old ways, back to the old days where she loved him unconditionally. Back to when she didn't know that he was her brother.

Amane tries to push him away from her, but can't bring herself to break away from him. He guides her all the way over to the couch. He's soft and kind, even apologizing when he accidentally hurts her. And then it happens.

She feels the pain in her head again, but this time she can see it happening. Amane can _feel_ it happening as the throbbing in her foot goes away. And if she looks at his hand, really looks at it, she swears that she can see it glow a brilliant red.

The same red as his eyes. What…the…hell…?

Then the spirit backs away, gives some final instructions, and tries to walk away. No, she's not letting him get away with this.

"How the hell did you do that?" Amane questions him.

Ryou turns and _answers her_, what the fuck? "I just did what I was taught to do. Nothing more, nothing less."

Bullshit.

So she calls him on it. But Amane doesn't realize that she's said something wrong until she replays exactly what she said to him, "What did you do, Ryou? What did you do to my foot?"

The spirit clams up and she sees such fear in him that she didn't even know what possible. Amane has seen sadness in his eyes, at the end of the moonlit ghost's life. There was rage and hatred in the form of the phantom. But now…there wad fear and she doesn't know what caused it.

"Don't call me Ryou," he shudders and practically runs up the stairs away from her.

"What's his problem?" Joey says, insensitive as usual.

Amane would slap him, but she can't take her eyes off of the staircase. She wants to rush up there and hold him and apologize for everything that she'd done. But she will never say sorry for calling him Ryou.

Ryou is what he's always been to her. She's not calling him anything else.

* * *

><p>Ryou won't tell her. He won't tell her anything.<p>

Amane wishes that she could convince him otherwise. But he pushes past her and runs away. She is half tempted to limp after him on her crutches and follow him all the way to…where ever he's heading.

She then realizes that she doesn't know _where_ he's going. She hop-skips her way towards her laptop, which her parents set up in the living room. She lets it on her leg and logs on to the internet.

Amane tries Google first and it doesn't fail her. Atlantis School for the Gifted is something that, of all places, KaibaCorp runs. In Washington, DC.

She frowns, not understanding why Ryou walked the way he did. He'd walked east. The airport and the bus station were on the other side of town.

What's going on here?

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><p>He comes back, two weeks later once again. She sees him come in, but he simply goes straight to his room. Amane wants to say something, but he seems exhausted as she drags himself up the stairs.<p>

She sighs, but this time she didn't stay behind. This time, she follows him up to his room and puts her ear to the door. Amane waits for a while and then she hears a word that she doesn't understand.

"Atem," she hears the spirit call through the wood. "Atem."

She isn't even sure what it is, but it's said like he's half asleep. But Amane thinks of black candle flames when she thinks of that word. And she knows that she will remember that name forever.

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><p>The next month rolls around and the spirit returns once more. And now, she sees the true extent of his transformation into this new being.<p>

"So stay away from me. I don't what to talk to you ever again. I don't even want to see you again. Leave me alone," Ryou speaks to everyone in the room, but he focuses directly at her. And she can feel the blame in his voice.

And she realizes something that day. Amane realizes that he hates her for leaving him alone. He hates her so damn much for telling him to go away. But…

But there's something else. It barely comes through and was probably only there because she was looking – hoping – for it. It was a little quiver, one that whispered that he just wanted to be accepted. That he just wanted to be…loved again?

Amane can't even look at him. She bows her head in submission and shame because she's realized something else. Ryou had always loved her, unconditionally for almost all his life, and she'd abandoned him when he needed her the most. No wonder he wanted nothing to do with her.

As he walks away – walks, not runs or flees – Amane sees the straightness of his back, the proud line of his shoulders. She sees how he no longer slouches and hides his face in his hair. She sees that every set he takes has a purpose and realizes something else.

That Ryou the Living Spirit is not a boy anymore. Ryou the Living Spirit is a man.

She wishes that that thought didn't turn her on as much as it did.

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><p>Tea's throwing another party. Amane doesn't remember the reason for it or if there even was one. All she knows are the instructions: look hot.<p>

She lies to her mother about going to study and runs upstairs to change. Amane realizes that her top is going to come off at one point or another, so she decides to wear one of her nicer bras. It's red and lacy, but not even remotely virginal or pure.

Her skirt is tiny. Tea specifically modified it so that it was basically underwear. Combined with her leather boots, they were a deadly combination. Amane knew that she look slutty, but that was kind of the point. Sluts were, at least according to fashion magazines, hot.

She did her make up, mussed up her hair a little bit, and then grabbed a long coat so that her mother didn't see what she was wearing on the way out. A car horn sounds from the driveway and she bounds down the stairs, attempting not to trip in her heals. Tea's in the front seat.

"So where to?" Amane asks.

"Where else," Tea replies, cracking up the music on the radio and practically flies onto the street.

They pick out Tristan on the way, shoving him in the backseat and driving off in the general direction of downtown. The three of them cackle with laughter all the way there, but all Amane can feel is an approaching feeling of dread.

The party is all right, as parties go. The music is a little too loud and the lyrics a little too self-centered and predictable for her tastes, but all those complaints seem to go away when she takes that first shot of vodka. It burns her throat, but the familiar buzz soon takes over her brain.

It passes over her mind sometime during the night, as her hands are up in the air and her hips are swaying back and forth, that she has no idea where she is. Tea finds her there, pulling her over to meet someone.

Amane's seen the guy before. She thinks, fuzzily, that he looks like some washed up actor in that action movie her never really watched. He looks like someone from that old show that used to play on the tele. What was it called again? Jersey Shore.

Except for the fact that he hasn't shaved in a few days and the stubble on his jaw has become a little more than noticeable. The American flag that acts as a headband makes her raise an eyebrow and the uneducated drawl in his voice makes her think of Joey in a few years.

Tea smiles slyly, glancing between the two of them, "Amane, this is Keith."

As the girl moves away, she whispers to Amane again, "You owe me one. He is such a bad boy."

Keith entertains her for about fifteen minutes before they decide to take their 'conversation' into another room – somewhere more private. Keith is probably the only guy who she has to remind to use a bloody condom, but he's totally worth the hassle.

He's pretty good, but she's pretty drunk and can't remember much. When she wakes up on the floor the next morning, there are some bruises on her hips and wrists that she doesn't remember getting. She's sore and hung over and it sucks because she's not wearing any clothes aside from her boots. Keith is still passed out on the couch.

She can only find parts of her clothes from the night before. Amane slips on her skirt first, which is dangling on the back of a chair. Her bra had somehow migrated all the way over to the other side of the room. She has no idea how it got there. Her coat it somewhere around here. She just needs to find it.

But she can't find her underwear or her shirt. Amane fishes a pair of quarters out of Keith's wallet and leaves her number in their place. She blinks the stars out of her eyes as she tries to make her way through the well lit lobby to find a pay phone, wishing that there was a way to shut off the god damn sun.

It takes her a few tries to get the money into the slot. She feels ill and has to abandon the phone and rush to the nearest toilet to vomit. When her stomach finally decides to settle down, she returns and enters the number for her home.

It rings twice and an irritated voice growls from the other end, "What do you want?"

Fuck. Amane would pound her head against the wall, but it already hurts too much. Why did it have to be "Ryou…"

There was a pause, and then, "Amane?"

Her name on his lips makes tears come to her eyes. She can't deal with the spirit right now, "Put mom…put mom on the line, okay…" She'll compromise and deal with the yells of her parents later. She just can't talk to him, not like this.

"Mom's not home right now," he tells her. She swears. Damn it. Damn it. Now how is she going to get home? Amane doesn't want to stay here any longer than she has to. She doesn't like the idea of having Keith wake up. She sighs and then a possible solution pops into her brain.

Amane would later blame the hangover for making her say what she did, but the part of her that hoped that the spirit would turn back into the moonlit ghost knows that she would have said it anyways.

"Can you come pick me up?" She asks. She hears a gasp, a load clattering, and then a scrape.

"Are you insane?" He shouts, "Why should I help you?"

Amane winces at his volume, his words ringing in her head, "Not so loud…"

She can feel his hesitance, "Is there anyone there that can drop you off?"

She mumbles no into the mouthpiece, realizations slowly dawning on her. Ryou's going to leave her here because he hates her so much. He blames her and he despises her and he will never help her. Ever.

"Where are you?" His words shock her to his very core. Amane had never expected this at all. It practically shoves all the pain caused by her hangover into the back of her mind. Her hands shake as she tries to remember where the party took place. She can't so she finds a window and opens it.

"I think I'm down town," she tells him and she can hear him swearing from the other end of the line.

"Where down town?" He asks irritated.

"The sign says…" Amane strains her eyes to look out the window, but the light hurts so much. She can hear the spirit's voice over the phone, but she can't make out what he's saying. "…I'm at Pursuit and Holmes…"

"Oh," Ryou says. "How'd you get there?"

She snaps at him, thinking that he's being idiotic. She's stuck in a weird building with a hangover and a passed out drunk guy on the couch, "I don't remember, stupid. Just get me out of here."

"I'll be there in half an hour, don't get your panties in a twist," she didn't know that the spirit had a sense of humour. This is new. In a kind of pervasive version of tired flirting, she decides to tell him the truth: that she's not wearing any.

He squawks, "What?"

"…can't bloody find them…"

He tells her to stay where she is until he could get there, hanging up on what was probably their largest conversation in years. She sits down in the lobby on a rickety old plastic chair and tries to remember last night. It's more difficult than it should be. Most people don't get drunk after a few shots. She does. All the time.

Amane feels humiliated. Not just about her rather lame alcohol tolerance, but the fact that the spirit is coming to get her. He was never supposed to become connected to this world of hers. This was supposed to be her escape from him. And now she was calling him in to pull her from it.

She rests her head in her hands, praying that he doesn't actually come through that door. Amane's whole body starts to shake when she hears the front doors open.

"You look like shit," Ryou throws at her. The words 'You smell like a bar' run through her head like something out of a dream.

And it scares her, "You always look like shit." It scares her how much her voice shakes.

She hears him step forward, "Here, go change. I'll take you home."

Ryou is too nice. Amane stumbled her way away from him, clutching the pieces of cloth to her like a lifeline. She can't handle him at all. The spirit has a heart and he's caring in a way that she's not used to. Not the fumbling awkwardness of the ghost, but the softness of the man he has become.

Amane can deal with boys. She can't deal with men.

When she comes out, dressed in sweatpants and a loose t-shirt, they walk together towards the bus station in silence. The spirit is her guardian, shielding her from the wind with his body as he scans the rather shady neighbourhood for any sort of danger.

He hands her a Gravel pill on the bus and it settles her stomach a little. Amane hides herself in her hands, wishing Ryou and his kindness away. She wishes to hell that he would go away. She can't look at him. If she does, she doesn't know what she'll do.

A very large part of her thinks that she would kiss him. Amane wonders what it would be like to do that outside of her dreams. She wonders what he would do if she did.

Then he places a hand on her knee. Its warm, like the rest of his body. She stiffens because at first she thinks its something _else_. But then she realizes that its just a comforting hand. A very small smile slides its way onto Amane's face.

"I really hate you, sometimes," she says, trying to say the words she really wants to say. She hopes he doesn't hold it against her.

He doesn't, "I know."

But really, she's thanking him for going out of his way. She's thanking him for not hating her in this moment. Amane's thanking her for being there for her.

And she still loves him. She will always love him.

Amane doesn't remember the rest of the bus ride. The Gravel kicks in and she's put to sleep. She thinks that she's leaning against him, but she's not sure. She does, however, know that Ryou must have carried her up the stairs and into her room.

She dreams of him that night. She's standing in her room, looking out her window into the night. The spirit comes to her, wrapping his powerful arms around her body and rests his head on her shoulders. He whispers in her ear and speaks to her in that calm voice of his. The spirit's lips brush against her cheek and he tempts her to 'follow him.'

Amane does, turning in his arms and pulling him in for a kiss. The spirit smiles and returns it just as forcefully, just as passionately. He leads her towards her bed and lays her down on it. He speaks to her again, not in the sweet talk of the former ghost, but in his man's voice. He tells her that she's beautiful and that he loves her as they remove their clothes.

But then he gets up and slides off the bed.

At first she is confused because her room seems different now. The night sky is gone from the window, replaced by a place she doesn't recognize. And the spirit is there on the other side. She races to the glass, pressing her hands up against it, hoping to touch him again. She can't. The glass is too tough.

And then Amane really looks at him through that window. She gasps because Ryou is standing, looking directly at her, and holding a candle with black fire. Black like _her_ eyes.

She swallows something hard as she notices that she is still naked from earlier. Ryou sets the candle down on his side of the window, pushes it _through_ _the glass_ and into her room. He motions for her to take it.

Amane passes her hand through the black flame and feels a sense of _void_ and e_mptiness_ that needed to be _filled_ and _used_ and –

Amane pulls away from the fire and looks through the glass again at Ryou. Except, now that she's paying attention, she can tell that its not Ryou. This is not her Ryou. Something is using his form and had kissed her. She wants to scream but can't remember how because she doubts that the thing is even human.

And then it's behind her again, arms around her and is guiding her back to the bed. She trembles and shakes the whole way, but she can't run away. It's calling again, this time in the voice of a thousand million people, **"Come to us. Search us out."**

Amane wants to clamp her hands over her ears to block out that sound. Her legs collapse beneath her as she stand in fearful awe of this creature that has taken Ryou's form. There is only one being that could be this powerful. Only one.

A god. Maybe even the God. She's started praying on and off over the last few years, falling back on her beliefs after the day when her world was rocked. But now…now she believes.

"**Follow him. Find her. And search us out,"** the God calls to her. **"The Shattered Soul. The Immortal Mortal. And us. Search for us."**

Amane wakes up in her bed, sweating and breathing hard. Its almost the afternoon, according to her alarm clock. When she goes downstairs, she finds Ryou sitting at the kitchen table. He glances up at her, as if checking to see if she was all right. And then he was concentrating on homework again.

Her body still quacks at the thought of the dream she'd had. Amane wonders if he is part god. She wonders if that is what that weird school wants with him, as she recalls the red glowing hands that made her foot better.

She wonders if he really is _just_ a living spirit and not something else.

* * *

><p>The spirit not only has a sense of humour, but a laugh as well. He rarely ever did, even as the ghost.<p>

It was an odd laugh, like he was barking and panting at the exact same time. But Ryou was laughing and to be honest, thinking that someone was going to go ballistic because they accidentally took a snowball to the face was kind of funny.

When Miho, the girl she is tutoring in English, finally calms down, she sees what Ryou looks like when he's happy. He's relaxed, hands in his pockets and beautiful face unmarked by the lines of anger. His red eyes are clear and open. He looks really…kind of hot.

Amane thinks Tea notices it too, but the girl starts yammering away about Pete Coppermine and Tilla Mook going out. She laughs it off because, really, she is so over Pete.

Joey decides to buy them all a hot chocolate, but she has to remind him to get one for Ryou. He looks at her strangely, but since she swears to pay him back, he does. Ryou grabs it, takes a sip, and then heads out the door.

What?

Amane excuses herself and runs after him. She calls, "Where are you going in such a hurry? You just going to ditch us and run off?"

For some reason, she feels more at ease around him now. Maybe it was the dream last night. Maybe it was the fact that he'd come for her when she could count on no one else. Maybe it's the fact that she thinks he could be a god.

"I've gotta go," he shrugs. Something stirs in her heart.

"Where?"

"School."

Amane let loose a chuckle, "School's not till tomorrow, idiot. Why are you heading out…" And then it hits, "Oh, your other school." She feels a sinking feeling in her gut, "You'll be back, though, in time for Christmas?"

He looks away, "I'm staying for three weeks this time. For the holidays."

"But you never miss Christmas," she can't believe it. He couldn't be doing this, not to her. He was supposed to stay with her forever. That's what he'd promised all those years ago.

And then he lays it on her, "What Christmas? I never got to celebrate Christmas, not really. I want to be somewhere this year where people actually give a damn about me, Amane, and that's never been here."

She can't believe him. How could he do this to her? She had always cared for him. Always. How could he even say that? She can't believe him!

Amane runs up and pushes him back, "Fine! Go to your fucking school! I don't care! I don't care at all! I hate you! Go away and never come back!"

She sobs as she shoves him one more time, "You're such a liar."

Then she runs from him. Runs back into the shop and sits down, digging furiously into her bag for her phone. Keith had left her a voice mail, asking if she would come over to his place later tonight. She calls him back, just to spite Ryou.

That night the God in the form of Ryou visits her again. He simply stands behind her with a worried look on his face. She sees his reflection in the window and sees the God sigh.

**"We will send him to you when he is needed,"** he says with his thousand voices. Then he turns away, disappointed. She doesn't understand what to make of it.

* * *

><p>Ryou the living spirit is dead. He comes home frightened and scared of something that he doesn't understand. Something has changed again and this time its big.<p>

Big and terrible and something has gone wrong – totally and completely wrong.

And then he changes again. She sees this change this time and it's beautiful. Amane become convinced: the God of her dreams is him. Ryou is a God. Her God.

Hers.

Always hers.

And Ryou will protect her from anything and everything with his powers. Because he loves her. He loves her and she loves him. Amane is in love with a God. Ryou the God.

Ryou her boyfriend.

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><p><strong>Hello again!<strong>

**I'd like to thank Malik'sStalker for reviewing for the last chapter.**

**So we're basically up to the point where Bakura discovers about the spirits. As for the next chapter, we're going to be treated to a rather delusional Amane, as revealed by her final line. In the month and a bit after Keith attacks her, she honestly believes that she and Bakura are _together_. That's why she acts the way she does during those chapters.**

**Until then,**

**AlcatrazOutpatient**


	4. The Girl and The Fallen God

**The Abnormal: Amane's Tale**

**Disclaimer:** Yu-gi-oh! Duel Monsters is owned by Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, and TV Tokyo. All names were changed to the characters of this fandom in order to protect the real people involved in the following incidents.

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><p><strong>Part 4: The Girl and the Fallen God<strong>

Amane is seventeen and thinks that her house is haunted.

She doesn't understand what he's become this time. He's some odd combination of the phantom and the spirit, but he isn't either at the same time. She doesn't understand why and she doesn't think he understands either. Ryou is lost and scared and utterly terrified of...something. She doesn't get it at all.

He's reverted to his former self, skulking around the house, shifting from shadow to shadow in an attempt to hide. But he still has the strength and power of the spirit. He stands tall and imposing, with the straight shoulders of the man he's become. Ryou is so confusing, sending her these mixed messages.

He's angry now, though. Sometimes she sees it in his eyes, when those burning red pits of flame seem to smolder with loathing and utter hatred for himself. He thinks that he's done something wrong and Amane has no idea what. If she did, she would tell him that it wasn't his fault, that he wasn't to blame. No, it was all her. She was the one who was wrong. She was the one that should have to deal with this, not him. Never him.

She'd made this choice. She'd chosen Bandit Keith over him.

Keith scares Amane sometimes. He yells a lot, usually when she's not in the mood to put out. There are times when he throws her up against a wall or onto the floor and doesn't even give her time to consent. He just takes, leaving behind bruises that she has to cover up with long sleeves and foundation. Amane wants to leave him, but is scared of the fact that he knows where she lives. She was so stupid to invite him over.

But Keith doesn't scare her as much as Ryou's anger does. She excuses her from the living room and goes into the kitchen, showing up just in time to see him snap and throw a glass against the wall. The room echoes with his fury.

"Shut up! I'm not like you! I'll never be like you!"

When she announces herself ("You know, talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity"), he spits at her, "Fuck off, Amane."

Then, completely ignoring her - or simply not being able to face her as he is - he turns and attempts to pick up the fallen shards. He cuts himself on one. Amane thinks that this is the first time she's actually seen him bleed.

She can't handle broken minds, but she can handle small wounds like these. She wets a towel and offers to help him. Ryou doesn't take it as well as she always imagined her would. There was no immediate rush back to the moonlit ghost. In fact, if anything, this has only made it worse. It's been too long and the damaged she's caused between them may never heal.

"Go away, Amane," he grumbles. "Go back to your boyfriend. He's probably missing having his hand on your ass by now."

Amane doesn't know what shocks her more: the fact that Ryou is referring to someone as her boyfriend (was that a hint of jealousy in his voice, or is she just looking too hard?) or that Keith had actually been secretly groping her throughout his entire conversation with her parents.

To cover up any signs of the near heart attack she'd just experienced, she snaps at him, telling him to back off of Keith. She says that her new boyfriend is different than all the others. That he was different from Demetrius or Pete or any of the other boy's she's dated or slept with over the years.

He snorts, "You say that about every boy you bring home." And then he says the words that will haunt her forever.

"Face it Amane, the only reason he's interested in you is because of what you look like beneath your clothes."

She slaps him. She doesn't even think about it before hand. How dare he?

How dare he suggest that? That she was just some...some whore that Keith used to get a good fuck? They were more than that. Keith and her were closer than she would ever be to Ryou. Amane Bakura wasn't a slut. How dare he say otherwise?

"It's the truth and you know it," he can't even look her in the eye. All she sees is the red handprint that starts to appear on his cheek.

She wants him to shut up. She wants him to go away and not bring up the things that she'd been trying not to think of since this - not just Keith, but this in general - began.

But she's not a slut. She's not a whore. She's not.

Oh god, she will not cry in front of Ryou. She won't, "Well, at least I have someone. Who'd..." it's hard to admit, and it reminds her of her shattered dreams with white dresses and weddings and happily ever afters. But she finishes, "Who'd want to be with you?"

Amane would. She really, really would. Because even after everything, she's still in love with him.

She runs out of the room, unable to be in the same room as him. She feels dirty and unclean, like she hasn't taken a shower in weeks, when she kisses Keith. He doesn't kiss her back, that's the way things are between them. She does it to show Ryou that she doesn't need him. She can withstand the bruises and the loveless lovemaking. She's strong too. She's grown up.

But as Keith leaves, revving the engine of his car, Amane looks back to the kitchen. Ryou hadn't even been looking at her. Her show had had no audience. And that's when she realizes just what all these relationships that she'd been in where.

Shows.

* * *

><p>She dreams about him again. They're both naked and she lays seductively on her bed as he stares on, unsure of how to proceed. Amane holds out a hand and he takes it, allowing her to pull him on top of her.<p>

They kiss, softly and then urgently, becoming so entangled that Amane couldn't have told her legs from his. She can feel his arousal against her stomach and his entire form shakes with desire.

**"Stop,"** he commands in between breaths. **"Please, we need to talk to you. We can't think when - ah! Nhnn, yes! Again! Do that again!"**

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Amane realizes that it is the God in the form of Ryou again, speaking in his thousand million voices. However, this time, she's not letting him go. She takes control, flipping them over and, for the first time in her life, takes control.

The God is a bewildered mess by the time she's done with him. His face contorts in a way that almost makes her think he's in pain when he cums, but he's not because he's not beautiful. He's better than beautiful as he claws at the sheets and his toes curl, back arching and hips thrusting upwards into her mouth.

Amane has never felt so accomplished in her entire life as she climbs back up his body from her position between his spread legs. She leans over him, planting a kiss on his forehead.

"I love you," she finally tells him, tells Ryou.

He looks up, **"We are not Bakura. But...if we could love, we would love you. For you, Amane, are perfection."**

"And they say flattery will get you nowhere," she teases him. "Is that your way of saying thank you"

**"Indeed,"** the God sighs contently. **"That was...very nice. Its been a long time and none at all for us. But this is special."**

"You're welcome, I guess," Amane flops down next to him.

**"However, this is not what we came here for,"** he rolls over onto his side. **"We've come to warn you, Amane. You are in danger."**

"What?"

**"You are so important. We cannot risk loosing you, not now. Not ever,"** the God wraps his arms around her and pulls her close. His warmth envelopes her body. **"But we will send help. We will always protect you, we promise."**

"What danger?" She begs him for the knowledge.

**"Do not worry,"** he tells her this but his body language tells her how scared he is for her. **"Everything will be taken care of."**

And then the God slips out of her bed and heads for the door. Amane sits up, unashamed for her nakedness, "Wait!"

He stops immediately. She asks, "All those times, in my dreams...was that you or...?"

Suddenly, he's in front of her, kneeling on the bed, **"No. This is a first. Never before have we been as we were tonight**.** However, kissing is not a new phenomena between us."**

He leaned down and pressed his lips against her's, pulling he into the most wonderful kiss of her entire life. She can feel the passion within her very soul and it rattles her bones just how much this being simply wants her.

Amane wakes up, sitting upright in bed. She's just as sweaty as the last time the God visited her, just as out of breath and overwhelmed. She'd given the guy a fucking blow job. And he'd liked it.

But it was just a dream, right? Just a fantasy in which she would play out her fantasy of being with Ryou in the most intimate of fashions.

Then she hears a laugh, warm and light and sounding like the God. He speaks, **"We left too early. We didn't know what you wanted. We forgot to return the favour."**

Amane feels something wet trailing up her inner thigh. She let's out a gasp as it begins to move north. She wonders where her pajama bottoms went.

**"We're real, Amane,"** the God calls to her and she can see a black shadow lying between her bare legs. **"We want to give you something to remember us by. Is that not love? We don't know. We're still learning."**

She lies back, gripping at its hair - or what she thinks is hair - as it sets her body aflame.

* * *

><p>It's difficult to even look him in the eye after that, not without blushing so badly that Amane thinks steam will start coming out of her ears like in those cartoons that she watched as a kid. She still feels the feeling of the God who looked like Ryou as he made her call out that name over and over again or the sight of him as he wiped his mouth clean when he was done.<p>

It was so weird when they were outside of her dreams. There was a duality to the God's appearance. Part of him looked like Ryou, but at same time he was but a flaming being of glowing blackness with bright eyes that shifted colours at random. He's not human, that for sure, but he looks so much like Amane's object of affection that she gets confused sometimes.

She needs a distraction. Luckily Duke calls her, saying that he's going to throw a party over the weekend. It's just what she needs, so she phones Keith and tells him to come pick her up.

As she pulls on her clothes, Amane catches the God's reflection in her mirror. He's gone when she looks around, but there was a look of utter concern on Ryou's face. A look that she'd never seen on the face of the true Ryou.

She sneers out through her window, jumping and landing in Keith's arms. He leers at her perversely and all she can think of are the words, "He's interested in you is because of what you look like beneath your clothes."

She's not a whore, damn it. She's not.

Amane glances up at the windows of her house as Keith sets her down. Her heart nearly leaps out of her chest when she sees Ryou looking down on her from inside his room. For a moment, she thinks it's the God because they both have the same expression of worry on their faces.

Keith tugs her into his car and kicks it into high gear, speeding down the street. At one point Amane looks in the side mirror and thinks she sees a figure bouncing from roof top to roof top behind them. But that can't be true, can it?

No one could do that. Except a -

No. It's not the God, it can't be. He wouldn't follow her here. Why would he? It's not like there could be danger here, in Domino. Well, yeah, the streets at night weren't exactly the best place to be, but this was Duke's house. It's just a party, nothing bad will happen here.

It doesn't stop her from shakily going up to the bar and making herself the most alcoholic drink she can think of and downing it as quickly as possible.

The familiar buzz descends upon her, though this time she hears a faint, **"Amane, no!"** calling her before being choked out completely. Keith grips her by the same, demanding that she come upstairs with him. She brushes him off, telling him that she's not interested right now and heads out onto the dance floor.

A few minutes - or hours, she can't really tell - she spots someone, sitting off to the side. He's hiding his face behind a dark hooded coat, but that's not want intrigues her. His hands are practically a pure white.

White like Ryou's skin. Part of her gets really excited when she sees them, nervously clasped together. Ryou's here. He's really here. He must have come for her.

It's probably the alcohol controlling her body as she moves closer, putting on the act that she uses to draw men into her game. She bites her bottom lip coyly as she twirls a lock of her hair around her finger, "Hi there."

He grunts, but at least he's acknowledged that she's there. Amane takes a step forward, "What are you doing all on your own?"

He looks up and she catches his red eyes for just a second before looking back down. She grins, because she knows that he'd been staring at her chest, "Not much of a talker, are you?"

He shifts nervously and Amane laughs, "S'okay. I'm so mad at my boyfriend. Come dance with me."

She reaches for his hand, like she did in the dream with the man who was him but wasn't at the same time. Ryou pulls away and speaks, "You're drunk."

"Were, like, all drunk, man," she's more open and less afraid when she is. If it weren't for the drink in her, she wouldn't have the courage to make a move on him. "Come on, I'll show you a good time."

Amane does the only thing she's known to work in this kind of situation: attempt to give him a lap dance. But he scrambles to his feet, knocking her to the ground in the process. What the hell? Things had just started to get good.

As he runs back into the crowd, Keith finds her and grips her by the arm, dragging her back to the bar.

"What the fuck, bitch? What are you trying to fucking pull?" He yells in her ear.

"Pull what? I wasn't doing nothing," she slurs.

"You're mine, you stupid girl. You hear that! Mine! How dare you try to fuck some other guy? If I see him, i'll kill him! Now come with me, bitch!"

"Told you already. I'm not interested," Amane snorts.

"The hell, man? She said no, leave her alone," Tristan came up to where we were standing, apparently having overheard the conversation.

Keith rounds on him, letting go of her in the process. She gets herself another drink, missing the warm feeling of Ryou's - the God's - arms around her as they lay in bed.

"No one says no to me, Tristan, let alone some Brit slut like her," Keith roared as the other boy stepped between him and Amane like a shield. She sighs, pushing the empty shot glass away from her.

"I'm not in the mood, Keith. Piss off," she grins as the fuzzy feeling gets even more intense. She figures she's going to need it.

Keith snaps, obviously having never had any girl cheat on him before, "You bitch, who the hell do you think you are? Who the hell was that guy you were with before?"

She's almost tempted to tell him that she was with a god, but no - she's getting them mixed up again. They're so similar and her muddled brain can barely keep them straight.

"I hate you. I haaate you, Keith. You're suuch a peeerrrrvvvv," because really? How could this asshole compare to the feeling of having a God writhe under your touch?

But then Tristan is on the floor and she doesn't know how he got there. Keith grabs her arm, pinning her down and bending her over a bar stool. No. She didn't like this at all. She doesn't want this. No. Nononono!

He drags her away and calls her by the wrong name entirely. She's not Amy, the bastard. And she's not a slut. She's not the girl he can just call up and fuck whenever he wants to, so just let her go, damn it!

Amane scratches and claws at his arms, biting him whenever she can and kicking him in the shin. Shit, shit, no this is not happening! God damn it, no!

Keith shoves her into the backseat of his car and she kicks and screams, but the world is spinning so she can barely sit up. Amane regrets having that last drink so much. And then she sees him.

His hood is down so she can recognize his face. They lock eyes and Amane honestly thinks it's for the last time.

"RYOU!" She screams, ignoring how the entire car seems to tit left and right as she claws at the glass windows in an attempt to reach him. When Keith pulls out of the drive way and she can no longer see him, Amane goes berserk. She shrieks, reaching into the front and scraps her nails down his face. The car swerves for a second and Keith reaches back, punching her with his big hands. Amane falls back onto the seat and the world goes black for a few seconds.

When she comes too, Keith is swearing and pushing the gas pedal as far as it can go, "Fucking shit! How the hell is he - what the fuck?"

He pulls into an alley, getting out of the car and opening the door to the back, "Come here, you stupid bitch!"

She bits him and draws blood. For some reason, she's reminded of another bow she did that to once. Keith swears again and backhands her, "Bitch!"

Then he's gone...just gone. There's a crunching sound of metal on flesh in the distance. And there stands Ryou in his place.

Ryou...Ryou just...oh god...is he...he's here. Protecting her. Just as he promised.

He turns to her, "You know how to drive?"

Amane's neck somehow remembers how to work and responds yes for her when her mouth is simply not responding. She climbs into the driver's seat, wondering how it was strange that a god didn't know how to do something as simple as operate a car.

"You little shit!" Keith's voice makes her blood run cold and Ryou tells her to drive and she does and oh god, she doesn't even realize how terrified she is until she's dumping his car in the cemetery parking lot and runs five blocks home.

She doesn't even bother attempting to sneak back through her window, just unlocks the door and runs up the stairs into her room. Amane shakes and shivers on her bed, crying soundlessly into the covers of her bed. Oh god, Ryou. He'd protected her, just as he'd promised in her dreams. The God and him were one and the same. All this time, he'd visited her in her dreams because he could never visit her like that in the real world. He'd loved her the same way she'd loved him.

And now he was dead because of it.

Because in the real world, Ryou was trapped in his human body. And humans could die. Ryou couldn't fight Keith, he wasn't strong enough in the form he was in. It was all her fault.

Part of her doesn't know why she did it (and part of her knows exactly why), but Amane gets up and opens her closet doors and pulls out a box from long ago. All the things that Ryou had given her over the years, back when everything was fine and lovely. She traces his sweet, childish face in the slightly faded photographs and silently wishes that things could have been different.

She'd never gotten to say goodbye.

And then a miracle occurs. There are a pair of knocks on her door, "Amane?"

She stops breathing.

"Amane," Ryou calls again and she can swear that she hears his God voice there too. "I just...I just wanted you to know..."

The card that he'd once giving her for her birthday trembles in her hand. It lies open and the words 'Love, Ryou" seem more vibrant than ever before.

"I just wanted you to know that Keith isn't going to bother you anymore. Ever."

She can't say anything. All the words are stuck in her throat.

He bids her good night and leaves. Oh god.

He's alive. He'd saved her, he loved her, and he's alive.

Ryou the God is alive.

Amane unlocks her door and walks down the corridor towards his room. There's no hesitation when she turns the doorknob and enters the place that, for the past four years, had scared her so much. She opens the door and goes inside.

Ryou is leaning over his bed, stopping in the middle of the process of crawling under the single sheet he has for a blanket. When he turns, eyes locking once more and Amane thanks every single god that she can think of that he's safe. She takes a step forward and he opens his arms.

Amane can't even remember the path over to him, but it doesn't matter once she's inside his embrace and feels his arms wrapped around her. Ryou is warm and beautiful and she's never felt so safe in her entire life.

He lays her down in his bed and she curls up beside him, hearing the sweet words of the ghost, feels the power of the phantom and the strength of the spirit. And she knows.

He is a god. Her god. And she loves him.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I should have stayed," she apologizes for everything in those simple words, for every time she told him to go away. She should have never done any of that.

But Ryou is a forgiving god, "It's alright. I promise, I'll always protect you, Amane."

He steals her breath from her lungs. Those words...she's heard them before, in her dreams. But she has to know, has to hear it from his lips.

"But you hate me."

"No," he moves back and touches her face. Ryou looks at her with the same smoldering look that he'd given her in her dreams. "Amane, I have and will always love you."

Tears of joy roll down her face once more and she snuggled closer to him. He loves her. He loves her. He's always loved her like she's always loved him. A part of her hears what he'd said in the middle of that sentence - "You're my sister" - but she shoves that down into the depths of her mind and never looks at it again. He loves her. He loves her.

Her god loves her.

* * *

><p>When Amane wakes in the middle of the night, she is confused by the fact that there is someone lying in bed with her. She may have slept around, but she hasn't actually slept with someone else before. She feels the arm that encompasses her waist tighten and pull her closer before relaxing.<p>

For one horrifying moment, Amane thinks it's Keith. It makes her snap open her eyes to check as the memories of a few hours ago filter into her mind. But no, it's Ryou.

He looks so peaceful as he sleeps, so beautiful. She wonders how no one else had realized this but her. How could no one else know that there was this divine being walking amongst them? But this was for the best. This way, he was all hers.

Just like he'd always been. Amane wonders how many times he'd come to her in her dreams, seeking what he was afraid that he would never get in reality. Maybe it was only there that he felt comfortable approaching her. Maybe it was only there were he could ever truly show his love for her. Not many, considering that he'd said that they'd only kissed before.

But if Ryou was a god, then she wonders what he is doing here. How had he fallen from the heavens? Had he done something wrong?

Had he fallen in love with a mortal woman and appeared to her as a ghost that hid under the kitchen sink? Of course, that's why he'd never shown his face until then! He'd been shy. Amane nearly laughs. He had no need to be shy.

But that meant that Ryou was not her brother. He'd convinced all the other people that he was just so that he could be near to her. Yes, that was the answer. That had to be the answer. And that meant that their love wasn't a crime, that it wasn't wrong. It was meant to be.

Amane understands now. She understands her fallen god's fear of appearing to her as anything other than his divine form. She understands and accepts.

Amane leans forward, pressing her lips against his, giving him his first kiss in this human body that he'd taken on to be close to her. It's chaste and innocent, like the one that she would have given him when she was eleven and confused about his godly presence in her life. She'll make it up to him. She promises.

* * *

><p>Amane falls asleep in his arms again the next night. He's still holding her when she begins to dream.<p>

Ryou's decided to wear clothing this time, she sees. She smirks. She'll rid him of those unnecessary garments soon enough.

**"You're safe,"** he murmurs into her hair. **"You started to drink and then we couldn't get in contact with you."**

"It's okay. You protected me, but like you promised. I'll never leave you again, that's my promise to you," Amane took his face between her hands, looking deep into his eyes. "I understand you now, Ryou. I know why you're here."

**"We're not Bakura. We have already told you -"**

She places a finger on his lips, cutting off his voice, "It's alright. I know. You don't have to hide anymore."

**"You know who we are?"** He frowns.

"Yes! Yes, I know!" Amane nods eagerly, "I want to say thank you."

**"You're welcome,"** he says blandly.

"Maybe I should rephrase that," she straightens and removes her shirt, displaying her naked chest proudly for him. "I want to show you my thanks."

**"Amane, please put your shirt back on. This is not the time or the pla-aaccceee,"** his voice peters out when when she places one of his hands on her breast. She can feel him trembling.

"Isn't this what you want?" She asks as she steps forward and starts to undue his jeans. "That's why you keep coming here."

**"You let us in,"** he whines, closing his eyes as she slides a hand down his boxers. "**You - hah - have to, nnh ah, unlock the door - gah!"**

Ryou the God's hand starts to move on her breast, playing and tweaking what he finds there, as he buries his face in her neck. He nips and bites at the skin there.

"I love you," Amane tells him. He looks up, looking somewhat lost. She smiles. Her god is so beautiful.

**"We cannot love, but..." **his other hand reaches down and grips the one in his pants, making her stop. **"If we could love, it would be you. Because you are perfection."**

"You are perfection, not me," she corrects him. She leans forward and kisses him gently. He responds a beat behind her. When she pulls back, she whispers in his ear, "Take me."

**"Amane..."**

"I give you myself. That is everything I have to give. Please," her sweat pants join her shirt on the floor. "Please, Ryou. I need you. I love you."

**"We are not Ryou,"** he repeats, but is unable to look away. **"And we cannot love -"**

"Then let me teach you," this time when she kisses him, they fall together onto the bed. Soon his clothes are gone and they are lost in themselves. They moaned and gasped, out of synch and in unison, exploring each other's bodies until they knew them like the back of their hands.

She loves him. She loves him so much.

Afterwards, the God lies back on the blankets with Amane sprawled over him. He's panting hard and she can feel his heart beating in his chest.

**"Was that love?"** He speaks in between gulps of air.

"No," she whispers and he turns to her confused. Amane cups his face once more, kissing him softer than ever before, "No. This, right here, this is love."

She wakes up, to find herself still in Ryou's arms. Her heart warms when she sees the slight smile that is gracing his face in his sleep.

* * *

><p>The fire alarm goes off in class on Tuesday. Amane can tell that it's not a scheduled one because the teacher look around a little confused for a moment before telling everyone to start heading outside. She suspects that it's just someone trying to get a friend out of class early. It's basically the end of the day anyways.<p>

She's uneasy. Amane hasn't seen Ryou since lunch when they'd sat together. He'd held her hand the entire time. It was so sweet. He'd started acting like they were together outside of her dreams as well. She loves it when he smiles at her or looks at her with those burning red eyes for his. And sometimes, he'd become protective of her. She knows that he is a forced to be reckoned with, even in his mortal body. If he can take a car door off it's hinges and make bruises disappear and make Bandit Keith go away, than he can do just about anything.

She searches for Ryou in the crowds and even lingers behind when they start to let people back into the building. She can't find him anywhere, except...

"...need to be seen, even experienced, for them to be understood."

"Fine by me."

It Ryou. And he's talking to a girl.

When she calls his name, they both turn. The girl is small with the weirdest hair she's seen in her entire life (and she dated Pete Coppermine at one point). It's black with a golden fringe with similar coloured streaks running down the sides. The bottom looks like it's been dipped in red pain.

The girl's eyes, though, are the shade of dried blood. And they are ancient beyond anything Amane's ever seen before.

"Who are you?" Amane questions, glaring at this other female who's been alone with him behind the bleachers. Everyone knows what happens behind the bleachers at football games.

Ryou stammers and answers that this girl is a teacher of all things. When she asks why she's never seen her around, the girl answers that she works at Atlantis. And she knows Amane's name.

She takes a step back, shocked. This girl knew who she was because Ryou talked to her, apparently. Talked to a girl, besides her.

Amane realizes almost painfully that there are girls at his other school, girls that she can't reach because they're too far away for her old rumours to keep them at bay. And then it happens: it feels like someone ran a train into her head. She gasps and grips her head. Immediately, Ryou - the ever watchful protector - is at her side.

"Amane, what's wrong?" His concern is overwhelming. He loves her. And he'd made love to her before. She remembers that night where she taught him what love was as he teases her about being a baby.

Baby sister.

Shut up.

And then the girl disappears. Literally disappears. She's there one second and gone the next. What the...?

"She's a bit young for a teacher, isn't she?" Amane asks a few moments later.

Ryou snorts, "Atem's older than she looks."

"Atem? That's a weird name," she frowns, contemplating this new information and remembering those bloody eyes. She vaguely recognizes the name. "She's quiet pretty."

"I guess," Ryou answers. "I've never really looked before."

"You haven't?" Well, why would he? He had her? She nearly laughs at her foolishness.

"Not really."

"Oh, alright!" Amane smiles brightly, holding his hand and leading him to the bus stop. But there's something about the girl - Atem - that she can't quite put her finger on.

It was in the way that she moved and spoke, how she held herself and stood with her back straight, shoulders square. It was almost...regal.

She wonders what they were talking about earlier. Amane, once again, is confused about that school he goes to. Atlantis School for the Gifted, what was it exactly? And what was he doing there?

* * *

><p>Ryou the God is gone. Back to that school of his. Back to that girl. Atem. And she's dangerous.<p>

She's on the fucking wanted list and Ryou won't take this threat seriously. Or maybe, he simply doesn't see her as a threat with his godly powers. But no, there was something about that girl, something almost akin to the strength that Ryou possessed. What if...what if that girl was like him?

Another fallen god? Or rather, goddess, in this scenario.

She was probably a superior of his, seeing as he addressed her as a teacher. Maybe she was his mentor that taught him everything he knew. But as his superior, she would probably not want him to be here. She was probably trying to reclaim Ryou or something. She was trying to take him away from her!

Is that where he was going? To fight his own kind and tell them of his right to stay beside her? That was so romantic of him. But if that's whats going on, then she's going to help him in any way that she can.

Amane flips open her laptop and slips onto the persona of the ruthless Internet hacker gh05twr1tt3r. The Atlantis website is up and running on her screen within a matter of minutes and find out everything she can about gods and goddesses and their crazy powers -

**"What are you doing?"**

She turns and her jaw drops, "You came back."

**"We never left,"** the God takes a step forward, his body flickering between his human skin and his flaming shadow form. **"We are everywhere at once. What are you doing?"**

He must be sending a projection of himself to talk to her. Amane smiles softly, "I trying to understand what you are."

**"You are? We thought you said you knew who we were,"** he tilts his head in confusion.

"I know who you are, but I just want to understand better," she clarified. "I want to help you."

**"You were born to help us,"** the God approaches where she lays on her bed, sitting down beside her. The mattress doesn't dip and the covers don't wrinkle when he does. But when he reaches forward, she can feel Ryou's hand enclosing around her own. **"Amane, are you sure that you want to understand?"**

"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I? I love you. I will follow you through thick and thin. No matter what they try to throw at us," she squeezes his hand gently.

**"Then we wish you good luck,"** he leans forward and gives her a soft kiss before disappearing. Amane touches her still tingling lips with her fingers, giggles softly to herself, and then reassumes her gh05twr1tt3r identity. After his little gift to her, there's no way that she can fail. She doesn't care about all the legends surrounding KaibaCorp, they've got nothing against Amane Bakura when she's on a mission!

* * *

><p>"Wow, what did you do to this thing? Hack KaibaCorp?" The guy behind the counter at computer depot raised an eyebrow at her when Amane held up her (literally) smoking laptop and asked if he could fix it. "Seriously, it's, like, deader than dead with no chance of a try again option. This baby," he takes it from her and turns it around, looking at it from all angles, "has been completely totaled. Too bad, she's a sweet model. DOMA right? Made last year? Got a warranty? Cause you're gonna need to get a new one."<p>

Thankfully, she does. Amane doesn't thing that her parents will appreciate the massive bill. She picks a KaibaCorp on this time, simply out of respect for her opponent. She's never seen anything like the NOAH security program before. Seto Kaiba is a genius for coming up with it. It's practically AI, the way it can adapt and change in a split second.

However, Amane managed to get a look at something before the NOAH decided to dump sixteen viruses into her computer (seriously? Sixteen? Overkill, much?). It was a file name, though she never got to see what was inside. It was labeled: Magic.

She wonders what it means.

But Amane is not one to give up that easily. Ryou needed her help and there was nothing that was going to stop her.

She types in Yugi Mutuo, the name that girl from before was called on the wanted list, into Google. And up pops a site asking who she is.

Amane clicks that little blue link, though if it because of morbid curiosity or a distinct lack of self-preservation, she doesn't know.

* * *

><p>She's terrified of what she finds. She checks out the site to make sure it's real with the computer nerds of her school and she leaves the room shaking. Nothing - absolutely nothing - had prepared her for this.<p>

Ryou had aged with her, so even after her revelation of his godly identify, Amane had always seen him as somewhat human. But this was...this was...

Yugi Mutuo didn't age. She must have been immortal because there was no explanation for the fact that she was running around during the second World War, as the picture that she held in her hands showed.

She stares at it for ages. It's not faked, she can tell that much. It's real. Real, like the rest of the website. The girl she had seen with Ryou behind the bleachers was immortal.

Was he immortal too? Was that how he survived his fight with Keith? What if...what if he would stop aging as well? Amane knows that it's just like that scene out of that vampire book from her childhood, but what would happen if he stopped growing old and she continued? Would he continue to love her as an old woman, with grey hair and a fading memory? Or would he move on to someone better? Prettier? Younger?

She climbs into Ryou's bed, letting herself drown in his scent. She cries softly into the pillows, wishing that he would come back. She hopes that Yugi Mutuo hadn't stole him away from her. That scares her more than the idea that he might leave her willingly.

* * *

><p>Serenity calls her up a few days later, as if sensing her misery. Amane's spent those long hours in between sleeping, meals, and class mapping out Yugi Mutuo's path throughout history, drawing up on document after document, picture after picture to help her to do so. No source is unreliable, not any more. If anything, the more ridiculous it seems, the more likely she is top believe it's truth.<p>

The younger girl practically has to drag her away, convinced that a little bit of retail therapy will help her to smile again. This is a rarity in and of it's self; it's no secret that the Wheeler family isn't exactly the richest family on the face of the earth. If Serenity was willing to spend money on something like this, she must be really worried.

Amane's passing the men's section in Aeropostal when she sees a shirt that she thinks will look amazing in. After making sure that they have his size, she gets it for him. And when she returns home, Ryou's standing at the top of the stairs waiting for her.

She drops the bag on the floor and races to him, throwing her arms around him. He's back. He came back for her. He must have fought off all those who wished to take him from her. They can be together now.

She gives him the shirt as a gift. He wants her to turn around while he changes, ashamed of his human body. She tells him that it's nothing that she hadn't seen before. She continues to watch, even as he turns around. Then she gasps at the massive bruise that covers his side. He tells her that he fell out of bed wrong. Amane knows better.

He got that in battle.

That night he comes to her in her dreams. They make love again, just as passionately as before. Ryou the God clutches at her body desperately, the noises from his mouth becoming nothing more than the unintelligent white noise of sex. He makes sure that she finishes first, howling his release not a second later.

"I missed you," she tells him afterwards.

**"We never left,"** he murmurs into her hair. **"We would never leave you."**

Amane wishes with all her might that he's telling the truth.

* * *

><p>Ryou isn't a God.<p>

That becomes obvious to her, though it kills Amane to admit it, when he refuses to kiss her. It's not that he's ashamed of his human body. How can he when he is human himself?

But the decimate proof comes when he refuses to trust her, refuses to stay with her. The God promised her that. And now Ryou is leaving her, going back to that girl. Yugi Mutuo. Amane hates her.

She screams at him, finally remembering where she heard the name before. He'd muttered it in his sleep earlier in the year. Ryou was dreaming about her when he was supposed to be with her.

And he gives her some bullshit answer in return. How dare he?

He runs, flees from her as fast as his legs will take him. And that's incredibly fast. He's out of sight before Amane can even blink.

She screams his name, though she doesn't know if she wants him to respond. Then Amane's screams become sobs as tears of betrayal run down her face. She can't believe him. She can't believe that Ryou would do this to her.

And then it hits her. Three terrible realizations that all surround the fact that Ryou is not the God.

If Ryou isn't the God, then how did he do what he did that night with Keith?

If Ryou isn't the God, then Yugi Mutuo can't be a goddess. So how could she be running around in the past looking exactly as she does now?

And if Ryou isn't the God...

Then who the hell has been visiting her in her dreams?

* * *

><p><strong>Hello once again.<strong>

**I'd like to thank Malik'sStalker for her review on the last chapter.**

**And so there we have it. Something is visiting Amane in her dreams (take a guess as to what it is, if you want) and her world crumbles as she realizes that she's been imagining things. Ryou doesn't love her, but something that looks like him thinks that it could.**

**Just so you know, instead of believing metaphorically that Bakura was a spirit, ghost or phantom, Amane actually did believe that he was a god in this chapter. She has also realized that he has some kind of power. And now that the truth has been revealed to her, she doesn't understand what's going on.**

**If you have any questions, you can leave a review, send me a PM, or post on my forum.**

**Until next time,**

**AlcatrazOutpatient**


	5. The Girl and The Nameless God

**The Abnormal: Amane's Tale**

**Disclaimer:** Yu-gi-oh! Duel Monsters is owned by Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, and TV Tokyo. All names were changed to the characters of this fandom in order to protect the real people involved in the following incidents.

_Dearest Serena  
>Happy Birthday!<br>You are still the sweetest thing since sugar_

* * *

><p><strong>Part 5: The Girl and the Nameless God<strong>

Amane is seventeen years old and knows that _she_ is haunted.

There's no other explanation for the existence of the God. He follows her even now, in his dual form that is part black fire, part Ryou. She tries her best to ignore him, but it's getting harder and harder to do so.

He starts following her to school, talking to her in front of people who _can't see him_ and it freaks her out. He's not begging her, like Ryou had done when they were eleven, screaming and pounding against her bedroom door. He's simply asking her what's wrong.

But he's not always there and that's a relief. Amane thinks that the God simply can't hold his form in the real world for long periods of time without tiring. Her dreams remain empty because she isn't letting him in. She just sits in the room that's not her room and waits for her alarm to go off.

She needs him to go away. She also needs to get back at Ryou for lying to her again. And she knows exactly how to do that.

Joey Wheeler. It makes her feel disgusting flirting with him, but Amane knows that it would piss Ryou off the most, the idea of her with him. Joey's not exactly hard to lure in. He's wanted to land her in his bed since forever now.

But Amane can't force herself to do anything more than get to second base with the guy. She convinces herself that because Joey's terrible when it comes to kissing, so he's probably worse with the rest of everything. It has nothing to do with the fact that the God showed up randomly in the middle of their last make out session. The look on his face was one that she could only describe as lost, like he was searching for an emotion that he had no idea how to feel.

She acknowledges his presence later that night as she scrubs herself harshly in the shower to get Joey's scent off of her. She can still smell him on her skin and her actions disgust her. She pores more shampoo into her hair, feeling the dirt from his fingers still clinging to the strands.

As she turns off the water, Amane looks around the curtain to see the God offering her a towel. He's clothed and for the first time she notices what he's wearing. His shirt and trousers look like they're made out of the purest white cotton. They fit him perfectly – almost too perfectly. And he doesn't wear shoes. He seems human, but she knows that he's not.

It's in his eyes. They keep switching colours at a speed that makes them almost seem white.

Amane snatches the towel from him, disappearing behind the curtain and wrapping it around her. Then she pushes it back violently, almost ripping the sheet from the bar hanging above the tub, "What do you want?"

"**Are you angry?"** He asks, tilting his head to the side. She catches him as his eyes drift downwards for a moment, and she doesn't really mind, to be honest.

"No shit, I'm angry," she snapped at him. "You tricked me. Who the hell are you?"

He frowns, **"We thought that you knew who we were already. You said that you knew."**

"I thought you were Ryou. You look like him. You used his form to – to…" she steps out of the tub and pushes him back, "I've taken a lot of crap from a lot of guys before, but you've got to be the worst! Looking like someone else so that you can fuck me! How low can you get?"

"**We told you that we weren't Ryou Bakura. And we don't look like him. He looks like us,"** the God's face doesn't change much, though his shoulder's seem to tense a bit.

"Whatever! You used that to get with me! That's all it ever is with men: sex, sex, sex. That's all your kind ever want," she snarls.

"**It was never about sex."**

"Bull fucking shit."

"**We cannot lie. It was never about sex. It was about you, Amane. You are –"**

"Perfection. Blah, blah, blah," she flaps her hand like a duck's beak; miming the sounds as if they are coming out her it's mouth and not hers. "I've heard it before. What other lies are you going to tell me? I don't even know who you are!"

The God looks at his feet for a moment and then sighs, **"We are in the same boat as you, with that one…"**

"What?" Amane raises an eyebrow at that comment.

"**We have been called many things before, but never have we had a name to call our own. We do not know who we are, just what we are,"** then the God looks up and suddenly he's directly in front of her, hands on her shoulders and face inches from hers. **"You could give us a name."**

Amane shoves him backwards again, "Get out."

"**Amane,"** he almost pleads. **"Please…"**

"If you're not going to tell me anything, then I don't want to see you again. Get out and never come back," she points towards the door.

"**We cannot do that,"** the God tells her. **"We are always going to be here. We are everywhere at once. We would never leave you, ever."**

"Just get OUT!" She shrieks and he disappears. She stares at the spot that he occupied not a second earlier before furiously rummaging for the hair drier and turns it on full blast, finishing her nightly routine of readying herself for bed.

That night she dreams of her room again. She can hear the God knocking on the door, but she can't hear anything that he may or may not be saying. Amane refuses to let him in, instead waits for him to give up.

He doesn't. He continues to knock until the morning comes. Then the God follows her around school the next day, bare feet not making a sound as he walked behind her. No one sees him, however students unconsciously make room for him to pass by. He parts the traffic in the corridors like the Red Sea when he walks in front of her, simply so that she can get to her classes in peace.

The God doesn't speak, just watches her intently. At one point, he completely freaks Amane out by sitting in the air beside her as she tries to take notes in history class. It makes her hand twitch so badly that it knocks her phone clean off her desk. But when she moves to pick it up before Ms. Madusa can snatch it, Amane finds that it is already back on her desk.

His face hasn't changed expression, but she thinks that she can see a little bit of triumph in the God's eyes.

But as the day comes to an end, he seems almost sluggish. Amane realizes that he's spent too much time in reality and is tired. While the idea of a sleepy God makes her want to laugh, she doesn't know if that's a bad thing. What if he randomly goes visible and she has to explain where Ryou's look-a-like came from?

Amane pulls him behind the bleachers, totally ruining her chance to catch the bus home. She orders him to go away because clearly he's not feeling good and what kind of moron is he to force himself into a coma in order to stalk her, he's so stupid –

The God leans forward and for a second she thinks he's going to kiss her, but that second passes and he's nuzzling her neck with his nose. It's not even a hug, but its so much more than one at the same time. Amane's face goes utterly red when he whispers his usual **"We cannot love. But if we could, we would love you"** in her ear. What is he doing? She knows that he's not Ryou, so why is he still doing this?

He holds her and she trembles, her heart pounding in her chest. Amane remembers the first night that she met the God and how his very voice had driven her to her knees. She thinks that _this_ (whatever this is) would do the same, but now he's gripping her so strongly that even if her legs did give out, he would continue to hold her up.

And then he whispers something else, **"The Immortal Mortal is coming. She will be injured, but the Shattered Soul will care for her. Make sure that no one finds out about them but you."**

Amane blinks and she's standing in front of her house. This time her legs actually do give out. Her hands cover her mouth in shock. It was like…no, she couldn't have just teleported here. Normal people don't teleport.

But then she thinks that the God is anything but normal.

It was still impossible. It was almost like magic. Amane almost scoffed at her own ridiculous thinking, but then thinks of all the things that haven't made sense in her life. Aside from the God's general existence, there was that time where Ryou healed her foot or took Keith's car door clean off in a fit of anger. And then there is Yugi Mutuo and her mysterious appearances across time and space. Amane started a time line about a week back and had so far traced her all the way back to ancient Japan, but she almost sure that there are some stories in the Native cultures of North America about her as well under the name of the Red Traveller.

Who the hell is that woman? Because the only way for that to make sense what they she was either immortal or somehow had access to time travel technology.

Or, for some inadequately explored reason, all of her descendants looked exactly the same. She doubts that last theory very much.

* * *

><p>Joey's over when Ryou walks in the door from his other school. His face contorts into something akin to disgust when he sees that they're kissing. He threatens Joey a little; mentioning something about a graveyard, and the football player goes completely white.<p>

Amane refuses to let this go. After Joey leaves (more like scrambles away from Ryou at top speed), she pokes and prods and throws cushions at him until he gives up a little bit of why he's hiding whatever he's trying to keep secret.

"You wouldn't believe me even if I did tell you. You just wouldn't believe it."

He looks so scared about her rejecting him. She just whispers, because she has to know and she won't shun him, she promises, "You never know for sure until you try."

Ryou looks completely shocked at her worlds, taking on the form of the moonlit ghost for just a second. His voice cracks as he forces out "Amane, I…I…I have ma-"

But then her father rushes into the room having just come home from work. She's swamped by a hug that she doesn't want and Ryou decides to become the dark phantom and meld into the shadows, slinking upstairs to hide in his room.

When she manages to get away, she runs towards him, flinging the door open to find the room empty. But she knows Ryou better than he thinks she does. So Amane looks under his desk.

"You haven't changed. You always used to hide under things when you were scared or upset," she joked.

She asks why he won't tell her. He says that he can't and she thinks that they're threatening him. He shakes his head, explaining that they're not, that Atlantis is the best thing that ever happened to him. She asks if he's in danger and he responds that he doesn't think so.

Well, isn't that comforting.

Amane pulls him out from under his desk, like when she pulled him out from under the sink. Then she wonders if she could play with his hair. Ryou lets her.

His white hair has never been soft. It was almost like dog's hair, coarse and rough and filled with knots and tangles. But she likes it that way. It would be too odd if his hair were smooth like a girl's. It would be too…not Ryou.

"Are you and Yugi Mutuo together?" Amane asks suddenly. His face goes bright red as he denies it. She feels a little better.

"But then why do you dream about her?"

"It's not like that – what you're thinking anyways," Ryou's blush deepened as he explains he's not having wet dreams about Yugi Mutuo, but that she's present in his dreams occasionally.

She swallows, wondering for a second if Yugi Mutuo is something like the God to him. She hopes to hell that she isn't. Because Amane's slept with the God and she doesn't know what she'll do if people started seeing him randomly.

Ryou also tells her that Yugi Mutuo isn't dangerous, not to him at least. Then he asks her about Joey and she tells him the truth. Amane wants to be done with Joey as soon as she can and if this conversation will help, then she'll answer whatever he wants to know.

Ryou snorts, telling her that he's going to cut off Joey's hand because it was up her shirt. It bothers her a little because one, she has no doubt that he would follow through with that threat if she asked him to and two, he called himself her brother.

To cover up her nervousness, she tilts his head back and kissed his forehead in a way reminiscent of how he'd said good-bye to her before. She looks into his eyes and is a little disappointed that they don't change colour.

Amane wonders what the hell is wrong with her. The God tricked her, so why would she want to see him again? And see him instead of seeing Ryou? See someone who _looks like_ the brother that she loves even though she shouldn't instead the _actual_ brother that she loves even though she shouldn't.

And then she remembers something that Ryou had mentioned a few minutes ago during their argument over Joey: that he'd kissed someone before. Amane wonders if he remembers the kiss she's given him. She wonders why she's so terrified that he might.

But no. Bakura didn't remember her kiss. He remembered a different kiss that he'd given to Yugi Mutuo. Before he'd been kissed by Amane. She hadn't been his first kiss.

She rages at him, accuses him of kissing someone dangerous, who'd killed so many people and done illegal things, but he stops her when he mentions gh05twr1tt3r.

Ryou knew about gh05twr1tt3r. Oh shit.

But Amane rationalizes it to herself, that what she is doing is less harmful than what Yugi Mutuo is doing. And then he says the words that break her heart into a billion tiny pieces that will never be put together again.

"What does it matter to you who I like?" He snaps at her. Ryou likes Yugi Mutuo. He likes a girl that isn't her. And he has no idea why that would bother her.

He doesn't know that Amane's in love with him and has been for years. He doesn't know.

She screams and runs out of the house. She keeps running until she's completely out of breath, nearly passing out on the side of the road. She curls up on the sidewalk, sobbing her eyes out. She feels a hand against her shoulder. Amane looks up into the changing eyes of the God.

"**Oh Amane,"** he whispers softly, hair falling softly around his face. She sees both of his forms at once and he seems to glow. **"We should have never pushed you so hard to stand by him."**

"Just…just go away…" she sobs. "Just leave me alone for once."

"**Never. We will never leave you. We promise. Never ever ever."**

And with that the God envelops her in a hug, holding her in an embrace that would have protected her from anything that the universe could throw at her. Amane buries her face in his chest, her body racked with sobs that shook her entire frame. Her heart is breaking, but there is this wonderful person here with her that promises never to leave, never to go away.

"I look like a meth addict," she mumbles as she pulls away, knowing full well that her mascara is running down her face.

The God cups her cheek and lifts her face up so that she can look him in the eye. He observes her, but she knows that he's trying to feel something again, **"You are perfection. There is nothing wrong with the way you look."**

Amane lets out a chocked laugh, punching him lightly in the shoulder, "And they say that flattery gets you no where."

"**It is not flattery. It is the truth,"** the God tells her, leaning down and pressing his lips to her's in the most chaste and intimate kiss she's ever being given. And she lets him. She lets him kiss her. And it's wonderful.

When he pulls away, Amane asks him to take her home. Not an instant later, she's standing in her room. A pair of hands encircles her waist and pulls her back against him.

"Stay with me tonight," Amane begs him.

"**We will never leave you,"** he promises again.

She prepares to ask for the most terrible thing in the world right now, "No. Not that kind of stay."

She asks him to be Ryou without actually being him.

The arms disappear as the God takes a step back, **"Amane, that is not a good idea."**

"Please," tears well in the corner of her eyes. She can't take another rejection, not now. "Please. I just want to feel loved tonight. I don't want to be alone."

The God appears to struggle with his words, his breathing becoming heavier, huskier, **"It's not that."**

"Then what?"

"**This form,"** he pointed hastily to his body, **"is fully functional in all aspects of human life. What you are asking for, outside of your dreams, is not advisable. Getting you with child is not something we should be doing."**

Amane smiles slightly, "I have condoms, you know?"

His mouth opens slightly as his brain slowly caught up with the situation. Finally, he says something, **"Oh."**

Not the most articulate person in the world, is he?

"Yes, oh," she bites her lip as she sits down on the bed, not feeling sexy at all. If anything, she feels a bit like a virgin all over again.

"**That…changes a few things,"** Amane sees the God swallow and his hands shake. She makes room for him as he crawls onto her bed. Their knees brush slightly as they press their foreheads together.

"Don't tell me you're nervous," she tries to break the ice by telling him a joke.

"**Don't tell me you're not,"** he counters, eyes wide.

"Why would I be?" She tries to cover up her trembles. "We've done this before."

"**No,"** he breathes. **"Not like this. Are you scared?"**

She doesn't answer because she is, only giving him another question, "Are you?"

"**We cannot be scared. But if we could…at least we would know that we could be scared with someone else,"** he tilts his head just enough that their mouths close upon each other in a kiss. His hand finds over of hers – how he does it she doesn't know because their eyes are closed – and the other sinks into her hair. He kisses her like she's the only person in the world that matters and she loves every second of it.

"**We're not Ryou Bakura,"** the God speaks into her lips.

"I know," she tells him.

"**Good,"** and then they tumble into the covers.

He doesn't let go of her hand the entire time.

* * *

><p>Tea frowns, "So who is he?"<p>

Amane snaps out of her daze, turning to her best friend, "I'm sorry? What?"

"You totally got laid last night. You've got the whole 'post-coital bliss' thing going on," the girl leans back, brushing her hair behind her ear. "So who is he and does he have a brother? If he does, I totally call dibs."

Amane nearly crumples in embarrassment, though not because the God's brother could practically be Ryou. No, it was because the God and her had been together on Sunday. It is now Wednesday.

Wherever he was now, she just knew that he was probably grinning like a fucking maniac. That is, if he could feel pride at all.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Amane stammers.

"Right. I believe you. So who is he?"

A God who apparently knows how to take sex to a completely astronomical level, she wants to answer, but doesn't think that Tea will take that as an answer. How about a God that liked the idea of cuddling after everything was finished. No, that was probably not a good idea either.

"Um, I don't know…" It kind of slips out, but Tea jumps on it immediately.

"You don't even know the guy's name?" She's shocked beyond all belief, "Wow, that's totally unlike you. You usually ask for the name at least."

"Oh shut up!" Amane rolls her eyes, honestly not minding. The God was the God, whatever or whoever he was after that really didn't matter. "And no, before you ask. He doesn't have a brother. At least, I think he doesn't."

"Arg! You're killing me here, girl! At least tell me where you met!"

She tortures Tea a little more before the bell rings and signals the end of second period, but refuses to give the identity of the mystery boy. But then the door is slammed open and Tilla Mook enters in her full gothic get up.

"Someone! Turn on the news right now!" She orders, stomping into the class. Amane logs onto the ZTV news website and –

"Oh my god!" She screams, leaping up from her seat. The entire class crowds around her laptop and the whispers and mutters begin.

Someone has attacked the White House. There's smoke billowing out of one of the rooms in the picture that they're showing opposite the face of the head anchor, Archie Cooper.

It only takes a few minutes for the principle's voice to come over the announcement system, explaining what had happened and instructing them to all head home. Surprisingly enough, no one panics in the corridors. The students just neatly gather their books and jackets before heading out the door.

Amane looks over the heads of the crowd and searches for Ryou. She knows that he went to school that morning, but she can't see him. She exits out the side door and looks around the grounds to see if he's skipping.

She's about to leave when she does one last check behind the bleachers. There's no one there, but at the same time, there is _something_ there. A patch of the grass has been stained a dark red-brown. The whole area makes her think of hospitals and medicine cabinets stocked with pill bottles. She stumbles away from the bleachers, heading home and wondering if she'll see the God again soon.

Amane hasn't seen him since Monday morning. She'd woken up to him tracing the lines of her face with the tips of his fingers. They'd kissed a little more and she might have had to rummage in her bedside table for yet another condom – they'd used up three already because he is simply _insatiable_ and she can't find a reason to tell him to stop – had her mother not come in to make sure she was awake.

How the God had managed to not only disappear, but also put her pajamas on her in less than a second still made her head spin. Not that she is complaining. Waking up naked is not something she wants to have to explain to her mother, let alone waking up naked in bed with an equally naked boy that looks like Ryou.

The woman still thought she was a virgin, after all. A little behind the times, mom.

And Amane was definitely not a virgin, not after that mind-blowing night that they'd been together in the real world. It was nothing like how they were in her dreams. Reality was so much better.

She wonders if the God simply hasn't visited because he too is going through 'post-coital bliss,' just on a more divine scale.

The idea of him lying on the ground in some Heavenly castle, grinning stupidly up at the ceiling of clouds for days on end while angels look on causes her laugh loudly, nearly making her miss her phone going off. It's her dad and he wants to give her a ride home.

She tells him that she's almost at the house and will be home within a few minutes. When she opens the door, her father merely waves over to the television. Amane sits down and watches the news for over an hour before her mother comes in.

She sits down beside her husband and makes a comment about how similar this is to 9/11. Amane can't remember that day, but she was three at the time so she doesn't expect to.

At one point, she hears the stairs creak and Ryou comes down into the kitchen. He grabs something out of the fridge before returning to his room. She frowns as his form disappears from her sight. When had he come in?

And then she catches what Cooper just said on the news: Yugi Mutuo was responsible for the attack. The girl that Ryou was crushing on blew up the fucking White House. Oh my god!

Amane remembers the day that she met Yugi Mutuo. She wonders how someone so small could be so dangerous. She wonders if she should tells someone that she's seen the girl, but can't stomach the thought that something might happen to Ryou because of it.

When she goes up to her room later that night, head pounding from staring at the television screen too much, she wants to take a peak into his room to see if he's okay. But the door is locked. Amane frowns. He hasn't locked his door for months.

That night the God returns to her. She smiles warmly, but all he can do is sit on the edge of her bed, leg bouncing erratically out of frustration.

"What's wrong?" She asks, hurrying over to him.

"**We almost lost the Immortal Mortal tonight. She almost died,"** he explains, clutching the fabric of his sleeves.

Amane sits beside him, "Are you close with her?"

He hums in acknowledgement, but then corrects her line of thought when she asks just how close, **"Not like we are with you. We cannot appear to her as we do with you. Besides, she is destined for another. Those two deserve each other, after everything that has happened between them."**

"The Shattered Soul," she supplied. "Are you talking about him…her? Whoever that person is."

"**The Shattered Soul is male."**

"So him, then. Does he know that she's all right? Does he even know that she was in danger?" Amane asks, talking his hand between hers.

"**He knows. We sent her to him because he would be able to care for her, nurse her back to health. They are sleeping with each other now,"** the God tells her.

"Okay, too much information," she leans back a little. She thinks she sees a hint of amusement in his changing eyes.

"**They are not having sex, Amane. They are merely sleeping together in the same bed,"** he informs her of the true circumstance. She wonders what these two people were like. She wonders if she will ever meet them.

"Well, it's not my fault that that's the first thing my mind jumped to," she jokes, snickering a little. "Not after Sunday night. You've corrupted me."

"**We would like to think that it is the other way around,"** he says lightly, as if telling the time of day. **"We have never been so…wanting before. We have you to blame for that."**

"Flirt," her face splits into a wide grin.

"**Is it working?"** She laughs outright at his retort. His hand gently squeezes hers as he asks, **"Amane? What is it like to laugh? To feel joy?"**

She stops, freezing at his question. When her mind starts working again, she frowns, "Don't you know?"

"**We haven't felt in so long, not since we had to repair ourselves. We have forgotten how it feels to experience happiness. What does it feel like?"** He looks like a child, asking why the sky is blue. She thinks about how to answer him while keeping the sadness at bay. How could someone have forgotten what being happy felt like?

"Well," she places a hand on his chest and tries to forget how similar this is to explaining to Ryou what marriage was. "You get this feeling, right here. It feels warm, like there's a tiny sun in your chest. And it just spreads. It makes you feel…good…Are you sure you don't remember?"

"**We have tried and failed. It is one of the many things that we lost when the beast began its return,"** he tells her. **"But sometimes…when we are with you or thinking of you, there is something. It is warm. And we think…"**

He turned to her and there was something so powerful and deep and moving in his eyes. It made her wonder just who and what he was.

"**We think that you make us happy."**

* * *

><p>Amane knows who the God is. Or rather, she knows <em>what<em> the God is because she still has no idea what his name it.

Amane knows what Ryou is. She doesn't want to believe it at first, but she knows now.

And Amane knows who is Immortal Mortal is. She's hiding in Ryou's room, kicks ass at poker and Go Fish, and likes to eat corn.

The only thing Amane doesn't know is what to make of how her world just got flipped upside down. But something tells her that she's going to find out along the way.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello all!<strong>

**I'd like to thank ilovemanicures for her massive review for the last chapter.**

**This is a lesson for you all: if you are able to write a thirteen page chapter about a character in less than 24 hours, then it is a sign that character has been on your brain for a very long time. I honestly scared myself a little at the speed that I was able to crank this one out.**

**So Amane is about to learn about magic and what she is. She's going to go through a lot in the next few chapters as she wonders about her feelings both for Ryou and for the mysterious God. Also, are there any guesses out there as to the identity of the God? It will be revealing in the next chapter just who the guy is, but I would like to hear your thoughts.**

**Until next time,**

**AlcatrazOutpatient**


	6. The Girl and Magic

**The Abnormal: Amane's Tale**

**Disclaimer:** Yu-gi-oh! Duel Monsters is owned by Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, and TV Tokyo. All names were changed to the characters of this fandom in order to protect the real people involved in the following incidents.

* * *

><p><strong>Part 6: The Girl and Magic<strong>

Amane is seventeen and thinks that Ryou's room is haunted.

There's a voice there that isn't his. It sounds female, in a familiar way that she doesn't understand. She stands outside his door with the newspaper in hand. The God is behind her.

"**So this is it,"** he sighed. **"This is the day you learn what we are."**

Amane turns slightly, surprised. She looks him in the eye. He seems sad in a way that doesn't show on his face, "Why? Is that bad?"

"**It's a crossroads. A decision must be made. By you. To accept or…deny,"** he glances away, unable to keep her gaze. **"Even we cannot see what will happen. But whatever you decide, Amane…"**

He takes a step forwards and cups her cheek with his hand. She can feel him trembling, **"Keep them safe. We'll see you in a few minutes."**

And with that he is gone, disappearing into thin air. She breathes for a few seconds before turning back to Ryou's door. She tries the door and finds it locked again. Amane frowns and pounds on the wood with her fist.

"Ryou, your door's locked. Open up."

There's a moment in between the end of her sentence and the beginning of his where she thinks she hears something moving. And then he yells, "Give me a minute. I'm getting dressed for school."

"School's closed," she tells him. It was in the news that morning.

"What? Why?" The door opens just enough that she can see one of his eyes – a familiar fiery red that reminds her a little bit of the Devil. And he's shirtless. She needs to stop staring.

"Haven't you heard anything? Your girlfriend's been busy blowing stuff up," she shoves the newspaper in his face. Yugi Mutuo had made the front page, but Amane's still more venomous about the fact that Ryou's got a crush on her. God, can't she just be satisfied with the invisible divine being that walks into her dreams and likes to follow her around?

That…sounded weirder than she'd intended it to.

"They closed the schools in case of further bombings," Amane tries to get back on track. "They want to protect the nation's children, according to the press release. Let me in. I want to talk."

"Not now," he hisses. She stops the door from closing with her foot. Oh no, he's not running from her. Not this time. She needs to get into that room and she's going to do it if her life depends on it. She needs to keep them safe.

Wait? Keep who safe?

She shakes her head, "Ryou, something's wrong! The FBI's changed Yugi's profile," that was the first thing she'd checked when she woke up this morning, the God's head laying on her chest. She'd made him stay the night because she was worried about him. She'd never seen him so frightened in all the time that she'd known him. She must have fallen asleep stroking his hair. She wonders if he sleeps at all.

She tells Ryou about the changes to the girl's profile and shoves his way into his room. Amane thinks he's being silly because she's seen him naked before. What's the lack of shirt in comparison to the lack of everything?

But no, that was the God. She keeps getting them mixed up.

She has to come up with an excuse when he questions her, saying that the last time she'd seen him nude was in the pictures Tea took during the infamous 'tied to the pole incident.' Which is technically true, though it's really odd to say that.

'The site I showed you before was taken down," Amane re-attempts to get back on topic.

"'Who Is Yugi Mutuo?' What about it?" Ryou frowns, crossing over his bare chest. She _really_ needs to stop staring.

"Well, taken down is probably the wrong term. It was more like it was erased. Same thing with every other site I found about her. Gone. Like they never existed in the first place," she's very weirded out by that fact. How could anyone have done something like that? It wasn't physically possible.

However, it turns out Ryou is not a master of the Internet like she secretly is. So she explains just how important this find is. No one should have been able to pull something off like the complete removal of all the sites that contained even a hint of Yugi Mutuo. She's half way through explaining this impossibility when she sees the God standing in front of Ryou's desk.

She nearly has a heart attack because it is now painfully obvious that the God and Ryou are two separate beings. Ryou doesn't see his double, but Amane can. She can even hear what he's saying.

"**There were two people eating here. How do we know that?"** He asks, but already knows the answer.

"Two forks," she whispers, giving him what he wants. The God nods and moves to stand over by – oh sweet Lord – Ryou. They're practically touching each other. For a second, her mind enters the deepest recesses of the gutter as she thinks about what could happen with a _pair_ of Ryous. In a bedroom.

She _really_, _really_ needs to stop doing that.

"**What happened over here?"** The God points to…Ryou's alarm clock that has been impaled by a knife? The fuck? She knows that he doesn't own _that_ knife. Amane's seen the one he carries on him. During the week after Keith had…she doesn't want to think about that…she'd practically spent every living second with him. Her foot had bumped into something that was definitely not flesh in the middle of the night while she was sleeping next to him. After investigating, she found the weapon that she knew (almost instantaneously) had been responsible for her ex-boyfriend's disappearance.

Death. She knows it but doesn't want to admit it. Keith was probably dead, but it is much easier to convince herself that he's just gone.

But the God's question still stands. She doesn't know how that happened, but she knows whom she can get those answers from.

"Why is your alarm clock smoking?" She questions Ryou.

"I hate mornings. It woke me up," oh that was such an obvious lie on his part. What was he trying to cover up?

"So you stabbed it?"

"…Yes."

"Where'd you get the knife?"

I saw him swallow hard as the God moved around him and sat on the bed, **"Do you think he's hiding something? What would he have to hide? Who would he have to hide?"**

Who? The bottom of her stomach seemed to drop as her thoughts became centered on the only person in the world who Ryou had ever been evasive about: Yugi Mutuo.

"I think you should leave," Ryou says. The God fixes his eyes, which change colour so fast that they appear to have none, on him, sighing, **"No, she does not."**

Amane hears Ryou wincing as she addresses him this time, gaze still focused on the God, "There's another thing. You keep trying to get me to leave. Like you've got something to hide."

"Amane. Back off –arg!" Ryou's grimaces turn into actual pain as he doubles over in the corner of her vision. The God gets up from his post on the bed and speaks to him directly in his voice of a thousand million people.

"**Stop. Let her see. She must know,"** the God tells him as Amane takes another step towards the only place in the room where something – or someone – could be hidden. She has to know. She has to find out. So that she can keep them safe just like the God asked her to.

Oh…_this_ is what its about.

But still, this is Ryou, "You wouldn't have the balls to do what I think you've done."

He wouldn't have the guts to hide the most wanted person on the face of the fucking earth under his bed. She's slept in that thing, for Pete's sake.

"I though you said you'd already seen my junk. Of course, I could do that," its barely a whisper but she hears Ryou's message. She's right and since she's right, there's…there's…

Amane kneels and looks under the bed. And she sees a face that she'd only ever seen I person once.

"Oh, hello," Yugi Mutuo's smile is anything but happy. If anything, it reminds her of a cold, heartless villain from a horror film. "Fancy meeting you here."

Something in her mind screams _danger, danger, get away_ and darkness seems to recede into the corners of her vision. Amane's eyes roll into the back of her head and she feels strong hands catch her as she falls, laying her on the ground with a shocking amount of care.

"**You had to know. We're sorry, but this is where you must make a choice. To accept…or deny. We just…Goodbye, Amane. It's been amazing."**

When she waves up, Yugi Mutuo is staring at her.

Mutuo blinks once.

Amane's brain makes the connection and she starts screaming.

Ryou's face is suddenly all she sees as Mutuo's is pushed out of the way. A hand goes over her mouth and he pleads with her to stop yelling, please just stop – ow, you bit me!

When she finally manages to stop freaking out completely, she sits and ties to control her breathing. Ryou tries to calm her by rubbing her back and staying beside her. She stands up, walking away from him and leaning against the wall. Eventually, she gathers the courage to speak.

"Ryou, dad is a cop."

Amane tries to ignore the way Mutuo stiffens as Ryou replies, "I know."

"As in an enforcer of the law," she continues. "Bound by duty to protect and serve the people."

"I know," he repeats.

"So why – why – do you think it is a good idea to hide a fugitive in your bedroom? Because it sounds like a pretty stupid idea to me," Amane snaps at him. She hears him sigh.

"I know."

Her heart leaps in terror when Mutuo starts talking, "If it makes you feel better. I believe it is a stupid idea as well and I am very willing to leave right now."

Amane's intrigued slightly. Who knew a terrorist could be polite?

But then Ryou looks at Mutuo in a way that mirrors the intensity that the God looks at her, "You are not leaving. I am under order by…higher ups not to let you go."

She rolls her eyes, "Oh please, I'm not dumb, Ryou." How stupid does he think she is? "Which one was it: Seto or Mokuba Kaiba?"

Because those Seto Kaiba was in control of KaibaCorp and Mokuba was excelling far too well in the political sphere to be ignored.

She thinks that Ryou will try to brush the question to the side, but instead Mutuo answers almost gleefully, "Mokuba."

"Atem! You're not helping!" He looks very frustrated. Amane wonders if Mutuo is just trying to piss him off. She wonders why Ryou's still calling Mutuo Atem.

"How did you figure out that they were involved?" Mutuo leans forward, smiling a little. What do they both take her for?

"Please, it's not that hard to put it together. KaibaCorp runs Atlantis. You work at Atlantis. Ryou mentioned higher ups. I'm not an idiot."

"I like your sister. She's very good," Mutuo grins creepily at Ryou. He collapses into his hands, the stress finally getting to him.

"Thanks, I guess."

Amane pushes herself away from the wall and threatens Mutuo, telling her that she could totally turn her over to the police at anytime. The woman tells her that she'd be putting Ryou at risk if she does that – that he'll be executed secretly. But she also says that they're interested in each other.

That calls to Amane like a siren song, singing, **"Search us out. Follow him. Find her. And search us out."**

She remembers the first time she met the God and how he'd passed her that candle. He'd known. He'd known this would happen.

She flinches, but brings the topic back to turning over Mutuo, naming all the people who are looking for her. Amane can't believe that Ryou actually thought that this was a good idea.

But then Mutuo says something interesting, "They are not looking for me. It is the people who control them that are using them to find me."

When Amane explains that there is no single group that runs all of the anti-terrorism groups in all of existence, Ryou corrects her and says that she said 'control', not 'run.' And Mutuo (why does he keep calling her Atem? That's an alias, right?) confirms that she's been fighting them all of her life.

Amane sees this as a chance to find out just how old the girl is, "You don't look very old."

"I am so old that I am surprised my bones don't creak with every step," Mutuo laughed a little and Ryou snorted at some kind of joke. She doesn't get it, but she wants to.

Ryou tries to reason with her, staying that one of the Kaibas will release all information about her connection with gh05twr1tt3r and have her hauled of to prison. Then he says that he'd break her out if she got thrown in a cell. She's shocked. Her heart flutters and a familiar girlish feeling descends upon her.

But then Mutuo goes and ruins it, "May I ask: what happens to me in this scenario?"

Ryou practically flirts with her when he mentions that she would be able to get out all on her own. His comment about having to save her becomes almost insulting, like he didn't believe that she couldn't take care of herself. Amane doesn't like it.

She goes right up into Mutuo's face, looking her up and down for some reason as to why Ryou would even be remotely attracted to this girl. She obviously dangerous and while end up killing him. So why does he…?

Amane will admit that Mutuo is beautiful, in the way one would call a very dangerous predator beautiful while its in mid leap, bearing its teeth and claws for battle. And the girl – no, woman – is very small, but she seems so much larger. There's something different about Yugi Mutuo and it almost makes her seem more than human. She wonders if she was right in her initial thoughts of the woman being a goddess.

"Why are you wearing Ryou's shirt?" Amane finally asks.

"I'm what?" Mutuo looks down at what she's wearing and then up at Ryou, "Bakura! Where are my clothes?"

Its odd hearing her surname being used to address Ryou as a person. For a moment, she thinks that it means that Mutuo's not as close to him as she is, but that moment fades when she remembers his shaking "Don't call me Ryou" spoken to her what feels like a millennia ago.

"You have five bullets in your chest," he fidgets. "I had to get ride of them."

Her jaw actually makes a sound when it drops. Bullets? Mutuo had been shot? She remembers the patch of darkness on the ground behind the bleachers and thinks now that it might have been dried blood. It makes her want to vomit, but it also makes her want to find out more. Amane has to know. She _has_ to.

When she finally regains her voice, she asks him how the hell he knows how to heal bullet wounds. Mutuo shouldn't even be walking around if she'd been shot, let alone five times in the chest. Then the women actually says that someone has been teaching Ryou how to do that kind of stuff and Amane's mind is thrown into another loop. He mentions someone named Touzoku.

She remembers a few stories her mother had told her when she was a child about a man named Touzoku. He was a legendary samurai and a doctor who moved like a ghost. And the way that Ryou is speaking of him, it sounds almost like the same person.

Ryou thinks that Touzoku is his friend, kind of. Mutuo claims to have known him a long time ago, saying that he had been a father.

"He had children?" Ryou paled a bit, surprised. "Where they yours?"

So, Mutuo is old enough that he would consider her able to have kids. But the woman sighs sadly and admits that she's unable to give birth.

"I'm so sorry," it just stumbles out. Amane can't help but feel sorry for the woman. Something flickers behind her startling _maroon_ eyes at makes her think that there's something else as well, something even worse than that, but she has no idea what.

But then Amane stumbles over her words as the God appears once more and whispers something in Mutuo's ear. Suddenly, she gets a little pissed because damn it, now this women has got the God wrapped around her finger as well. Is there anything she can't take from her?

Mutuo asks her softly if she wouldn't mind cutting her hair. It stops Amane right in her tracks. What kind of question is that? She just blew up the most famous American building and now she wants a haircut. What kind of person was Yugi Mutuo anyways?

Amane agrees, but in exchange Mutuo has to answer all of her questions. Surprisingly enough, the woman agrees. She leaves the room and goes to the washroom to collect some scissors. When she comes back, Ryou is lying on the bed, looking suspiciously embarrassed. Mutuo is staring at her with those uncanny eyes of hers. They're like Ryou's, she notices: not normal.

Amane orders Mutuo into a chair that she's brought with her, threatening her once more with exposure if she doesn't answer her questions. The woman then has the utter gull to mock her and ask what the 'in-fer-met' is – her words, not Amane's. Ryou explains that his precious 'Atem' doesn't know squat would the Internet, but she doesn't believe that. Who doesn't know what the Internet is?

"Do you believe in fair tales, Amane?" Mutuo asks. She frowns. What is she playing at? She tells the woman that there is no such thing as magic, all the while thinking of the pictures of Mutuo that are taped to her wall. Of the God that no one else can see. Of how Ryou can heal with a single touch and take down men who are so much strong than him.

But it all goes to hell when she slices through Mutuo's hair with the blades of her scissors. The new tips immediately become red. It's just like…just like…

"Do you believe in magic, Amane Bakura?" Mutuo asks again, looking at her with those maroon eyes that unnerve her so.

She stutters again that it's not real, that it can't be real, looking to Ryou so that he will tell her that its not. He'll tell her the truth. He'll make everything right again. He always does. Always. She loves him for that.

He looks away again. Its both conformation and betrayal all at once. But there is not something that Amane now knows without a doubt: magic is real.

She runs, flees from this reality. She doesn't know why, but as the same time she wonders if it has something to do with the God and not just Ryou. She knows that he has something to do with this as well, she just doesn't know what.

It's raining out, but Amane runs anyways. She thinks that she hears someone behind her, feet splattering the water on the ground as they followed her. She stops to catch her breath in the park. She doesn't even need to look to know that it is Ryou who's followed her.

He would follow her. He would come for her when the God flitted in and out of existence with his cryptic whispers. She loved Ryou. She would always love Ryou. The God was nice and rather interesting, but Amane would always be able to count on Ryou. Now more than ever.

"I didn't ask to be this way," he surprises her with that statement. He doesn't want that gift of his? "If I could, I would become a Normal in an instant. But it's not all that bad. I've met some good people – amazing people – thanks to it. I'm able to do things now to protect people I care about. If it hadn't been for my magic, I never would have been able to save you from Keith."

And so the truth comes out: Ryou really did take care of Keith. He'd used magic to save her. Amane asks if he'd used it on her ex, seeing something in her minds eye that was nothing more than a lump of flesh and a single bloody hand and wondered if _that_ was what he did with that power. But Ryou says no.

"Not on him. On me. It's what made me move fast enough to catch up with you."

So he'd used it to protect her, to keep her safe. He loved her, he really did. Ryou loved her and she loved him.

But the God…Amane doesn't know what to make of him just yet.

She flinches at the feeling of a hand on her shoulder. It's too similar to what the God had done the last time she'd been this scared and angry. She's scared that if she turns around, she'll see quickly changing eyes instead of Ryou's familiar red. But no, she has nothing to worry about.

Ryou explains something called the Ward and how it makes people scared of those with magic in order to keep it a secret. He thinks that she's been scared of him this entire time.

But he's wrong, "I've never been scared of you."

"What?"

"I'm not scared of you. Never been scared. I love you, Ryou. Why would I be scared?"

That's right. She loves Ryou. She has and will always be his. And the God…well, the God was a mystery she still wants to figure out, but she's not so sure about continuing this thing she has with him. She doesn't understand him at all.

But she doesn't understand this power that Ryou has either. She asks, pleads with him to show her something to prove that she's not mad. He hesitates for a moment, but when the God appears and raises an eyebrow at him, he holds out his hand.

As the God disappears once more, a small ball of light appears in his palm.

"It's beautiful," Amane whispers as Ryou explains that its an Illusion, that's its not real, but she doesn't care. That small sun seems to burn all of her doubts away. Ryou can do magic – real magic. That's what he's been hiding this entire time. Oh. Oh wow.

But there's a pain in her head and it brings with it images of raging tornadoes that rip through towns and tear up houses. Ryou comments on it as the light fizzles out. Suddenly, the pain lifts. He frowns and brings it back. The headache makes a return.

"Tornados. Mixing winds," he whispers.

"What are you talking about?" She asks him, because apparently that was supposed to make sense. He tells her that 'Atem' will be able to answer everything. When Ryou speaks of Yugi Mutuo – was she like him as well? – his eyes light up a little and a slight smile works its way onto his face. "Let's go back. Come on, its raining out."

But none of that matters because the final wall between Amane and her dearest Ryou is gone. And this magic of his was their little secret. No one else could know. She had to protect that from the outside world.

She bombards him with questions, "Is her name really Atem? I thought that her name was Yugi."

"No, she's definitely Atem. That's the name her parents gave her."

"And how old is she?"

"Twelve hundred years old."

Amane thinks he's joking with her, "No, really. How old?"

He says the same thing and she realizes that he's dead serious. Ryou explains that Mutuo – no, its Atem – tried to bring someone back from the dead and had her death taken from her. She used to be a Mayan princess, way back in the day. Amane nearly jumps for joy as her immortal theory checks out.

"Wow. This is just…I was not expecting this when I woke up this morning," not with the God curled up against her, terrified that the Immortal Mortal was going to die or that she would make the wrong choice about something.

Ryou tells her that magic is a living force and that it wanted her to know about it. He also tells her that Kaiba would kill him if he knew that magic had been revealed to her.

It is later that night when she fully processes all the information that she'd been presented over the course of the day.

Amane was something called an Abnormal and it was impossible to penetrate her mental shields. She'd stolen Ryou's Enchantment magic and turned her mind into a nuclear bunker of some sort.

Magic was real. Atem had it. Ryou had it. A bunch of other people had it. They were called Others and those who didn't have it were called Normals.

And magic wasn't just real, it was alive…oh.

_Oh_.

It clicks. And suddenly she knows what the God is. Oh.

* * *

><p>It isn't until Atem and Ryou leave again that she even tries to get in contact with Magic. He hasn't visited her at all over the past week. She wonders why.<p>

But those days give Amane time to think. She realizes something that scares her a lot. She remembers how Magic had instructed her to keep two people safe – the Immortal Mortal and the Shattered Soul. She thinks that he was talking about Ryou and Atem.

It was through Amane's quick thinking that her parents remained blissfully ignorant to the fact that the most wanted criminal in the country was living in their son's room. Atem recovered quickly, her face becoming less drawn and needed to sleep less. She'd given the woman some of her old clothes, the ones that she had grown out of but would still fit the tiny Immortal's body.

The look on Ryou's face when he sees Atem in a skirt though almost breaks her heart. There is a look of utter incredibility, of desire and of wanting that she's never seen on his face before. Amane realizes that he really _does_ like Atem and not her, as he stares dumbly at her in a way that makes her think he is simply lost for words.

Atem was obviously the Immortal Mortal; she was the one who was injured and sent to Ryou. That meant that he was the Shattered Soul. And according to the Magic, they were destined for each other. Amane didn't like that. Where was she in all of this? She knows that, being an Abnormal, it means that Magic specifically created her for a reason, so why would he create her with this longing for her own brother?

She has so many questions, but he hasn't shown his face at all. Amane waits for him in the room that's not her room – her Soul Room, Ryou had told her – but there is no knocking, no sign of him anywhere. She approaches the door, feeling frustrated. He's avoiding her. Magic is _avoiding_ her. She thought that a god would be beyond such childish tactics.

Amane grabs the handle and opens it wide. There is nothing but swirling blackness beyond and a tiny little ledge in which she steps out onto. The door closes behind her the moment she leaves her Room, leaving her trapped.

"Hello?" She calls out to anyone or anything that might hear her. "Is anyone there?"

Something answers. She can't tell whether it's male or female or some amalgamation of the two, "Hello."

"I need to talk to Magic," she yells out into the blackness. "But he's avoiding me. Can you take me to him?"

"You wish to talk to the Lord? Who are you, human? No one has ever wanted to join with Him before their time."

"My name is Amane. Amane Bakura. Please, I just want to talk to him," she pleads.

"Amane?" The voice sounds intrigued. "You are…Amane? Truly?"

"Yes! I am! Who are you?" She tries to take a step forward, but slips on the floor. She falls, scrambling to grip the ledge. A pair of arms wrap around her body and the voice whispers in her ear.

"Don't worry. I'll take you to Him."

Amane hears the flapping of wings and she realizes that the being has green fur all over its arms, its paws sporting yellow claws. As the creature takes her deeper and deeper into the blackness, she again asks it what its name is.

"Feral Imp," she gets in reply. It only confuses her further.

She feels like she is passing through a veil and then has to shield her eyes from the intense light that suddenly surrounds her. When her eyes adjust, she sees a castle. Its straight out of a fairytale, with the sun high in the sky even though it dark out in the real world.

"Where are we?" She whispers, wondering if the Imp can hear her through the wind. Apparently it can.

"It has been called many things. Hereafter. The Next World. The Other side. It's part of the Lord but," Amane looks up and sees the green creature grinning, "I just call it home."

"He's a castle?"

Feral Imp snorts, bringing her in for a landing, "Nah. The Lord just brought this with Him after the Fall of Mu. It has His workshop in it. He had to add a little bit of Himself to do it, though."

Her bare feet touch the cobblestone floor and Amane feels very out of place in her pajama shorts and tank-top. Feral Imp beckons for her to follow it, trotting through the front gates on all fours, green fir and all.

She forgets how many staircases she climbs and how many corridors she walks down, but she remembers each and every single creature that she passes. There are blue skinned women and fiends from beyond death. There was a headless knight, a golden mammoth, and robots of all shapes and sizes.

"How is the Lord?" Feral Imp asks as they come to a halt in front of a door. The woman who was coming out, dressing in a purple tunic and carrying a crescent moon staff sighed sadly.

"Not well. He's sleeping again. He used to go years without sleeping and now he does it every night. I don't think He'll be able to keep this up much longer," the woman looked close to tears.

"Well, I brought someone who might cheer Him up," Feral Imp grins cheekily, indicating to her. "Amane, this is the Magician of Faith. Faith, this is Amane."

The Magician of Faith's eyes widened at the sight of her, bowing low and deep, "My Lady."

Amane waves awkwardly, "Hi. Um…Is it okay if I go in there and…just talk with him for a little?"

"The Lord would be delighted, that is if He could feel delight. He used to be able to, but then the beast began its return," she shook her head sadly. "He's dying, you know."

"What?"

"The Lord. He's dying. He's got two years left, at the most," Feral Imp hung its head.

"We've known for a while," the Magician of Faith began to cry silently. "But…if you're here…please, go see Him. It would make Him so happy."

Amane doesn't know what to expect when she goes inside. Magic on his deathbed, maybe? But this was not it.

It looked like steampunk heaven, all the gears and knobs and pipes that lined the walls and ceiling. Pistons moved up and down at random and the whirring of engines filled the room. Off to the side looked like an endless library where books seemed to be flying between the shelves, as if they were enchanted. In the middle, there was a series of desks with odd-looking tools on them.

And, in a mess of white hair supported by pale arms, the God – Magic – was slumped over onto one of them, sleeping like a baby. There was another chair at a different table, so she dragged it over and sat across from him. Amane contemplates playing with his hair again as she waits for him to wake up.

It doesn't take long. Apparently, he's into cat napping. Magic gives a little grunt as he enters a state of awareness, slowly opening his bleary eyes, before sitting up straight as he realizes that he isn't alone.

"**A-Amane?"** He stammers, **"What…Are we dreaming?"**

"Nope," she smirks a little.

"**Oh. What are you doing here? How did you even get in?"** He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he attempts to sit up straight.

"You were avoiding me. I came through the door to find you. Feral Imp helped me fly in," she explains.

"**Remind us to give that gremlin our thanks. No human has ever come here before – not alive, at least,"** he snorted. **"You are truly full of surprises, Amane."**

She reaches across the table to touch his hand, "We need to talk?"

He pulled back, standing up and turning away. He ran a hand through his hair as he stepped away from her, **"This is the crossroads. This is your choice. We understand if you don't want us in your life anymore. It can be quite daunting, knowing that we are –"**

"Magic? That you're Magic? How is that even possible?"

"**We are the main consciousness. We do the thinking, the creating. Everything you see around us is just part of the larger picture. This entire room is part of us. It is our Soul Room, per say,"** he spread his arms wide. **"This – everything that is here – is who we are. We are humanity and humanity is us."**

Amane tried to process this new information, not understanding most of it. But still, "Alright."

Magic turned around, frowning, **"Alright?"**

"Alright. You're Magic. You are humanity. Alright," she nods.

"**You accept us?"** He didn't seem to believe her words.

"Well, yeah."

Suddenly, he's in front of her and he's kissing her again. Amane has half the mind to let him, but turns her head away. She can sense his confusion.

"That's what we need to talk about," she tells him.

"**But we thought…you accept us. This is how it's supposed to go,"** he doesn't understand. **"We've seen it."**

"Magic," she calls him that and it causes him to jolt. One of the machines off to her left lets out a whoosh of steam and he runs over to it to fix it, looking almost embarrassed. "Look, I just…you created me for a reason. That's what Atem told me – that you always created Abnormals for a specific reason."

"**Yes. You were created with a purpose. The most important purpose in all of existence,"** he says.

"So then why did you make it so that I fell in love with Ryou?" She cries. She needs to know the answer to that question.

"**We didn't make is to that you would love him. We made it so that you would stand beside him, that you would always be there for him in times when he needed you. Just as he was designed to, amongst many other things, to protect you,"** Magic looks to the side for a moment. **"Falling in love with Ryou Bakura was all you. We had nothing to do with it."**

She's genuinely shocked, "You mean you didn't…?"

Magic holds out a pale hand and a book from the library zooms into his grasp. He hands it to her, **"Be carful with that. You've got someone's life in your hands."**

Amane gingerly opens the book and sees the face of one of her many ex-boyfriends, Pete Coppermine. Beside it is what looks like a hand written profile: name, height, weight, age, hair colour, general interests and hobbies. There are the names of his parents and a reference to a family tree that was located on the ninth page.

"**Everything that he does will be recorded in the back,"** Magic says as she gives the book back. **"Unless it is important, we do not control someone's love life, sexual orientation aside."**

"So I love Ryou because I just fell in love with him?" She whispers to herself.

"**Are you…oh what is the correct saying?"** Magic looks at her in a way that she would call sadness if she didn't know him better. **"Amane, are you breaking up with us?"**

"I don't know. I don't even know if we were together-together, in the first place," she tries not to look into his eyes, but knows that if he could feel, the man beside her would be heart broken right now. "It was really nice, but there's somethings I need to think about first. Like Ryou."

Magic says nothing. She frowns at his lack of response, "You seem surprised at this. Can't you tell what people are thinking?"

"**Not with you. The wall that guards your mind is so strong that it even blocks us out. Nothing can get in, nothing can get out. Unless you let it, of course,"** he explains, almost automatically. **"And we did not see this coming."**

"I just need to figure some stuff out, alright. I know that I love Ryou, but I'll never be able to…you know. Not while he's looking at Atem," she spits the last part out almost venomously. Magic's hands clench suddenly, only to release when he notices her looking. "You're jealous."

"**We are not jealous. We are incapable of feeling jealousy,"** he responds, but she's not convinced.

"But you are. Oh god, you're jealous," Amane's hands cover her mouth in shock. No one has ever been jealous of her before.

Magic hesitates for a moment, **"You were never supposed to fall in love with him. He has been promised to the Immortal Mortal, just as she has been promised to him. You were supposed to love…"**

"I thought you said that you didn't fill anything in for my love life," she places her hands on her hips.

"**We would need to write down a name, Amane,"** he sighs. **"We don't have a name."**

"Magic," she says suddenly. "That's your name."

"**Magic is what I am, not who –"**

"Yes, but now it is also who. You asked me to give you a name, so that's what I'm calling you from now on. So get used to it," she points at him. He stares at her, looking at her like she's insane. Amane doesn't know if its her imagination, but she thinks that she can see the corners of his lips curl up a tiny bit.

"**You are truly full of surprises, Amane,"** he touches her hand, fingers curling around hers. **"Does this mean that you want us to put down our new name as your lover?"**

"No. It just means that you have a name now. I told you: I need to figure things out," she doesn't let go of his hand, though. "We can be friends. Just, don't wait for me, alright. Things could go in an entirely different direction and I don't want you to start thinking that if you wait long enough, something will happen between us again."

His arms wrap around her in one of his protective embraces. She leans into Magic's hug, feeling his warmth. He feels all too human.

"**We have waited an eternity for you, Amane. Waiting another few decades will be nothing in comparison,"** he mutters into her ear.

But then she remembers what the Magician of Faith had told her before, "But you're dying. You've just got two years left."

"**We're not going to die in two years. Not if we have anything to say about it," **he looks her dead in the eye when he says that, his changing eyes looking almost white in a startling contrast with her own black pair. **"Knowing that we might have a chance with you in the future will only spur us on."**

"I told you: don't wait for me."

"**We will wait anyways, if only because you are asking us not to,"** he steps back, but still grips her fore arms. **"Now, we've been a terrible host. Would you like us to show you around?"**

"Am I allowed? Isn't this, like, sacred grounds or something? You've got so much stuff in here. What if I touch something and I cause a Third World War?" She looks around at the mysterious room once more.

"**Nonsense. You are Amane. You are perfection,"** Magic tugs her back towards his desk, which she assumes is going to be the starting point of this tour.

"You know, you don't have to say that anymore. There's no need to try and impress me anymore," she laughs at him. He looks like Ryou did a few days ago, all excited and willing to tell her everything about what he had learned over the months he had been going to Atlantis.

"**There may not be a need, but we want to remind you of the truth whenever we can. Consider it flirting,"** he draws her attention to some sort of contraption he has on the desk. **"Now, Amane: let me show you the world."**

* * *

><p>He does. It's beautiful.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Hi!<strong>

**I'd like to thank ilovemanicures for her review for the last chapter.**

**So it is finally revealed: the God is magic itself. Just so you know, those scenes where the God was popping in and out of Amane's sight, whispering words to Atem and Bakura were what happens when the Fate occurs. Fate is literally when magic is giving you a direct order to do something. Amane can see it because she is closer to magic than anyone else is.**

**I had a dream about the Others last night. Strangely enough, it had little to do with any of the main characters. Bakura's mother, Natsuki, was sitting with some of her lady friends. They were talking about who their children where getting married to or dating (making me assume that it was taking place many years in the future of my plot). Anyways, all the ladies were saying "Oh, my daughter is engaged to a lawyer" or "My son is dating a model." Then Natsuki just snorted and said, "My son is with an Immortal and my daughter is practically married to God. Beat that."**

**I woke up grinning like a lunatic. It was _awesome_ and basically described what Bakura's and Amane's mom will be like after the series ends: so incredibly proud of her children. Both of them, not just Amane.**

**Until next time,**

**AlcatrazOutpatient**


	7. The Girl and the Arrogant Fool

**The Abnormal: Amane's Tale**

**Disclaimer:** Yu-gi-oh! Duel Monsters is owned by Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, TV Tokyo and 4Kids Entertainment. All names were changed to the characters of this fandom in order to protect the real people involved in the following incidents.

_To ilovemanicures  
>AbnormalGodshipping<br>Enough said_

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><p><strong>Part 7: The Girl and the Arrogant Fool<strong>

Amane is seventeen years old and is convinced that her locker is haunted.

Her right eye twitches.

By flowers. Seriously, the guy is sending her flowers.

The first time it's sweet. It's a single daffodil, the yellow petals a bright contrast to the dark grays of her locker walls. When she Googles it later, she finds out that the flower means 'The sun is always shining when I'm with you.'

She tucks it into her hair as she takes the bus home. When she walks in the door, her mother comments on it. Amane tells her that she's got a secret admirer.

"That's so sweet!" The woman laughs whole-heartedly, "Oh! I'll find a vase for it. It's such a lovely thing to do."

Amane keeps it in her room. When she visits her Soul Room at night, she finds that the flower has made its way there too.

"You know, you didn't need to do that," she tells Magic that night as she visits him in his castle. He's in the library this time, taking books – lives – off of the shelves.

"**We thought that you might like it,"** he smiles sadly. **"Seeing you smile when you found it was one of the better things that happened today."**

"Has something gone wrong?" Amane asks, touching his shoulder. He sighs and then removes another book.

"**There was an attack today in Rwanda. People who were not supposed to die were killed today. One of them was a Necromancer,"** Magic explained.

"Necromancer? Like Ryou?"

"**Yes. They are so important – Necromancers. And **_**they**_** know it,"** he whispers. **"They help keep the cycle of life going. They help us to remain strong."**

"Magic, what's wrong? What's happening?" Amane can feel him shaking, though from some sort of sadness or anger that he can't feel but his body experiences anyways, she can't tell.

"**Not today. We'll tell you eventually, but not today,"** Magic stumbles as he turns to go back to his workroom, books in hand. **"We're so **_**tired**_**."**

"You get some rest. I'll take care of those," she gestures for him to give her the books. For a moment, he looks ready to refuse. So to make her point, she grabs them from his hands, "Go to bed. You need your sleep. You look dead on your feet."

"**We're sorry,"** he mumbles as he slides towards his bed, a single cot that seemed out of place in this extravagant palace. **"Put them in the spare room at the end of the hall."**

It is only when she opens up the door and sees the massive stacks of books, leaning against the walls only to tumble down and create haphazard piles on the ground that she realizes that the spare room is really a mass grave.

Amane makes sure to read the names just inside the front cover before placing them inside. The memories of Yusei Fudo, Jack Atlas, Akiza Izinski, and Crow Hogan become dust in the wind.

* * *

><p>Magic continues to send Amane flowers throughout the week. It gets to the point where she can't hide it from her friends anymore. She knows that he means well (and, she suspected, he's trying to win her over with gifts), but at the same time, she also running out of room in her vase.<p>

Each time it is a different bloom. Tea sees one once, nearly squealing at the idea that there was a 'nice guy who was so totally in love with her.' It doesn't help that Magic had sends her a single rose in full bloom that day.

Magic walks her home that day, appearing at the bus stop and waving as she approaches. His form flickers between the black, glowing fire and his human appearance for a moment before they board.

The bus is packed as usual, but when he sits down beside her, no other passenger attempts to take his seat. It's almost like they can see him or at least sense that he's there.

He seems in better spirits than the other day. He wraps an arm around her shoulder and tugs until she leans against his shoulder. Amane wonders how that looks to the people around her, but they don't seem to be looking her way.

"You are a hopeless romantic, you know that?" She nearly laughs when he gives her an odd look of confusion, "Seriously, who sends girls secret flowers anymore? Only you."

"**Therefore, flowers give us a unique advantage. And we thought that you liked them,"** he answers.

"Yes, but you've given me so many that I can't keep them all," Amane pokes him in the side and giggles when she feels him jump.

Magic frowns in thought; **"You will need a bigger vase then. We can see if we can provide one. It will be more difficult; vases aren't alive, so…"**

This time she really does laugh, "I'm telling you: you don't need to get me flowers. Honestly, I'd rather hang out with you more."

Then she blinks, realizes what she just said, and blushes. Magic looks like he just won the lottery, even though he doesn't smile – can't smile.

He offers to carry her things when they get off the bus, but she punches him lightly in the arm. She can carry her own books, thank you very much. He offers her his arm instead. Feeling a bit like a princess, Amane threads her arm around his and they begin to walk towards her house.

But as soon as it comes into view, Magic stiffens and pulls her behind a large bush in the nearest garden. He silences her protests with a hand over her mouth. Amane is tempted to lick his hand to see how he will react.

Magic tells her to stay where she is and disappears. He reappears in front of a non-descript Toyota that is parked out in front of her house. He creeps around the car, avoiding the driver's side window as best he can. And then he's back with her.

"**You need to get inside as quickly as possible. Don't look at that car. We'll explain once you're inside."**

And then he's gone again.

She's barely locking the front door from the inside when she spots Magic searching the living room for something.

"What are you looking for?" Amane frowns.

"**Natsuki Bakura nee Bingham, your mother, is a practitioner of the Shinto religion of Japan. Does she keep an ofuda somewhere around the house?"** He says as he looks under the table.

"If you knew the first thing about Shinto, you'd know that the ofuda to the ceiling, a door, or," she points to the arch that leads from the room they're in to the kitchen, "an archway."

Sure enough, there's a strip of paper with Japanese writing painted onto it, attached to the wooden arch. Magic's eyes light up and he's suddenly in front of it.

"**Is it active? It should be – what with the Shattered Soul running around, not to mention us. Yes! It is! Good, this is very good!"** He seems to be muttering to himself.

"Um…Magic? You do know that that stuff doesn't work, right? Ofuda are just talismans. They don't actually do anything," Amane raises an eyebrow at him.

He looks at her like she's lost her mind, **"Of course, they work. Well, they did work all the time up until the Beast's cage opened up. But with enough power running through this household, this ofuda is enough to throw the people outside off their game. Your mother is a very smart woman. And she has raised her daughter to be just as intelligent."**

"Flirt," Amane snorts.

"**Once again: is it working and if so, can we kiss you?"** He tosses back at her. Before she can answer, Magic presses a kiss against her jaw, tongue flicking out to taste her skin. **"You're so **_**beautiful**_**."**

Amane's breath catches. She doesn't think anyone's ever called her beautiful before.

"Magic…" she hisses, though she's not angry at all. If anything, she almost wishes that he had kissed her mouth. She likes kissing him and that surprises her because as much as he looks like Ryou (or Ryou looks like him), it's Magic that gives her butterflies most of the time these days.

Not to say that Ryou is completely off the radar. Amane doubts that he ever will be. Love, in her opinion, is the only verb that doesn't have a past tense. If you stopped loving someone, you never really loved them in the first place.

She will always love Ryou, but is beginning to think that maybe she should learn that he's not the only fish in the sea.

"**We know. You're still sorting things out. We just wanted you to know,"** he pulls back, touching her face gently, **"that we're still interested. We will always be interested – more than interested."**

Amane's heart flutters in her chest. His changing eyes are warm and full of an emotion that she's only ever seen in him before. Magic's hand pushes some of her hair behind her ear. She takes a hesitant step forward. His eyes widen slightly at the meaning behind that action, glancing down to her lips for a second.

She can see him swallow, his adam's apple moving up and down his throat. Amane wonders why he's so nervous when something like this happens between the two of them. Hopeless romantic, he may be, but Magic was a bit awkward when it came to actually following through with things.

But once he got going…well, Amane remembers _that_ night all too well. It was the last night that they were together.

Magic steps away, tilting his head as if listening to something, **"Your parents are coming home soon."**

"They can't see you, though. We could…hang out upstairs," she tries to give him a hint. He does get it; she can tell by the way that a shiver runs down his spine.

"**Hang out? Up-upstairs?"** He stammers, **"Alright."**

She leads him to her room by the hand. He looks half ecstatic and half frightened out of his mind. Poor guy; if only he knew what she really had in store for him, he'd be a lot less scared.

She closes the door behind them as he hesitantly makes Magic way over to the bed. Amane flops down beside him, revealing in the feeling of the soft pillows after a hard days work. He takes her action the wrong way, leaning over her and kissing at her neck again.

"Hey, not what I meant," she pushes him off. Magic looks at her funny and then sighs.

"**Alright then. Then what do you want to do then,"** he sounds a bit agitated at being lead on.

"I want to learn about who you are," Amane tells him. "Your past, what you've done. Why you're getting rid of your books."

Magic flinches and rolls over, facing away from her, **"What makes you think that they're connected?"**

"Aside from the fact that you're not looking at me," she rests her forehead between his shoulder blades, tugging at his white shirt. Her toes brush against the faded jeans. "You're dying, Magic. Something happened to you before and I want to make it right again."

It takes him almost a minute to respond to her, **"You want us to live?"**

"Yeah. No one should have to die before their time," Amane answers him.

"**Is it not our time?"**

"No. Not if you're fighting it as hard as you are."

Magic shifts and faces her again, his thumb brushing her lips, **"You keep talking like that and we really are going to end up kissing you again."**

Amane laughs, but is immediately shut up by the feeling of his mouth on hers. Its nothing more than a peck, but it is enough to set her face aflame. When he pulls back, Magic is uncharacteristically smug.

"**Tonight, come to our workroom. We'll answer your…**_**questions**_** there so that we are not…**_**disturbed**_**,"** he hisses out that final word in a voice so low, so husky that it's a surprise that she doesn't jump him right then and there.

It doesn't help that his hand is on her ass. She lets out a small "Eep!" when he pushes their hips together. Out of retaliation for the warmth that is beginning to pool in her lower abdomen, Amane slides her leg between his thighs. She's rewarded with a moan as she feels his partial arousal in his jeans.

"Is that a promise?" She asks innocently.

"**You are a bit of a screamer. Don't want to wake up the whole castle,"** he growls, his hips twitching as if they were just waiting to be told to move. **"Or maybe that was only when you were with us."**

Amane decides that she likes winding him up. Magic's really fun when he's like this. She leans forwards and whispers in his ear, "Only with you."

His groan is louder this time and she can feel it inside her very soul. Magic looses control of his body for a single moment in time as his hips snap forward and he grinds himself against the leg. Amane gasps at the feeling.

"**Please, Amane? Can we…?"** He whispers desperately to her while simultaneously trying to get his body back under control. It scares her and delights her at the thought of what her mere teasing does to him. **"Can we, please?"**

"Can you what?" She asks him, amazed at the control she has over him – _him_: Magic, who is a god in his own right.

"**You know what,"** he murmurs.

"Say it. Out loud."

Her leg shifts again and somehow he manages not to hump it like an animal, but it still effects him, nonetheless. Amane's glad that she chose to wear a skirt today to school, as Magic's hands move under the fabric and toy with the leggings she has on underneath.

"**We want to…"** he pauses to breathe heavily for a second. **"We want to make love to you."**

Amane stops entirely. She stares at Magic's flushed face and tries to understand what he just said. Not fuck. Not have sex. Not mess around. Make love.

He wants to make love to her. And suddenly she realizes something.

Magic doesn't want her for her body. It really isn't about the sex for him. It was about _her_. It had always been about her.

He sees the fear on her face, stopping entirely and asking what was wrong. Amane scrambles out of his grasp and away from him. She's scared now. No man has ever wanted this from her. No man has ever wanted her as anything other than someone to warm their bed with.

"**Amane?"** He reaches for her, **"We're sorry. We shouldn't have said that. We didn't want to scare you."**

She cowers at the corner of her bed. Magic sits up and, for a reason she doesn't understand, places her pillow in front of his erection and hides it from her sight.

"I don't even know you," Amane mumbles into her knees.

"**Ask. Anything you want. We'll answer, we promise,"** he tells her. **"Your parents won't disturb us. We've made it so."**

She nods, "How old are you?"

He looks upwards, as if trying to remember, **"We can give you a rough estimate of about twenty thousand years."**

Her jaw drops. She knew he was old, but… "But that's impossible."

"**How so?"**

"I took history this year. I know that human civilization began about ten thousand years ago. How can you be double that and still be humanity?" She asks.

"**Human **_**civilization**_** began ten thousand years ago, yes. But before that were the Ancients and their Empire. Humans lived back then as well,"** he explained. **"The Ancients are…our parents, if you want to look at it like that."**

"Your parents? So you weren't the first?" Amane frowns. Magic shakes his head. "But in all the legends, they say that the gods were the first beings."

"**Legends are based on the truth, though most of them have been exaggerated somewhat. We are not omnipotent – not entirely,"** he sighs. **"And the Beast is far more frightening than anything that can be written in a book or spoken in a story."**

"Magic, is the Beast the Devil?" She whispers. He doesn't say anything, but that is all the answer she needs. "You said that its cage was open. Does that mean…?"

"**No, the Beast is still there. She just won't come out until she thinks we're too weak to stop her,"** he growls.

"The Devil is a _woman_?" That brought the saying hell hath no fury like a woman scorned to a whole different level.

"**She bastardized the concept of a female,"** Magic spat. **"The first human was a woman because women give life to the world. Without them, the world is dead. And **_**she**_** took that and murdered people in that image."**

"I thought the first human was a man. Adam," Amane frowned.

"**Another common misconception. Her name is not Eve either, since you are going by Abrahamic names. It is…"** he hesitated, **"Her name was Heavenly Sound. We were Adam."**

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Are you saying that…you can't possible mean…" Amane's almost horrified, "When they said in the Bible that mankind are God's children, I always thought it was –"

"**Metaphorical. Nope,"** he almost seems amused.

"So isn't this like incest to you?"

"**The gene pool is pretty watered down at this point. Besides,"** Magic looks away, **"we doubt you're not really against that."**

"My feelings for Ryou are not up for discussion right now," Amane hisses through her teeth.

"**Right. We're sorry for bringing that up,"** he nods soberly.

"So who are these Ancients anyways?" She asks.

"**They are the first people, The Ones Who Came Before. A race of beings that believed themselves to be perfect, though they were far from it,"** Magic explains to her. **"They didn't understand that some things needed to be learned, that respect needs to be earned and not given, that a long life doesn't mean a good one. They created us so that we would serve them and give them more power.**

"**The castle you see when you visit us used to be theirs. They locked us in that workroom to keep us entertained, only visiting when they wanted us to give one of their own our powers. We wanted to mean something to someone. We didn't want to be alone anymore."**

"So you created Heavenly Sound," she supplies for him. He nods. Amane frowns, "Magic, was she your wife?"

"**Was. Is. Always will be."**

"Are you cheating on her when you…with me?"

Magic looks surprised, but covers it well, **"No we're not."**

Then he gives her the oddest look she's ever seen out of him and she wonders if there's more to that story. She wonders if she even wants to know.

"**King Raa, the Ancient King, tried to hurt her once. And after Heavenly Sound died, he tried to kidnap us. Raa wanted power from us. So we gave it to him and his little warriors,"** Magic snorted at the memory and Amane sees for a moment how much he despised these Ancients. **"He didn't like that. Raa was scared of us, so he created the Orichalcos as a way to take away our strength.**

"**By then our children were numerous and powerful enough to fight back against Raa's creation. His son unleashed it upon us and our family after Raa's death, but we fought back,"** pride fills his voice. **"We fought and we won. We drove the Beast back."**

"What's the Beast got to do with this Orichalcos thing?" She asks.

"**Just as when the Shadow Realm was created, we were born, when the Orichalcos was created, she was born,"** he spits. **"She mocks us, taking what isn't hers, taking the form she does."** When Amane asks for a deeper explanation, he says, **"The Beast never met her, but…she took Heavenly Sound's form."**

"How is that possible?"

"**Our wife was long dead by the time the Orichalcos was created, but the Ancients can live for hundred of thousands of years. Raa died when he was three hundred thousand years old. There was an Ancient boy who sometimes talked to Heavenly Sound. She liked him. Ironheart was his name,"** he sighs. **"He was Raa's grandson. When he got older, he told the Beast what she looked like."**

"So she took on the form of your dead wife to taunt you. That is one sick bitch," Amane shakes her head. "Who the hell does she think she is?"

"**The Beast was made to destroy humanity, so she will try anything to do so. And taking on Heavenly Sound's form is definitely effective. We tried to kill her during the First Great War, but we couldn't. Not when she looked as she did. All we could do was let her slither away with the promise that she would never come back."**

"But she did come back," she frowns, and then realizes it. "The Beast _lied_."

"**We thought we'd won. We never saw it coming. We never thought it could happen. And only when it was too late did we understand just what we were. Not a god to be worshipped or an equal to stand amongst our children. No, we were not that. We were fools – arrogant fools high on power. We were like the Ancients,"** and with that, Magic's story came to an abrupt halt for the simple reason that Amane grabbed him by the collar and started to yell in his face.

"Don't you dare say that about yourself, you idiot!" She screamed, "You said yourself that you didn't see it coming. You thought that the Beast was going to be honourable and hold up her end of the deal. _She_ is the one at fault here, not you. So if you even think about blaming yourself for anything, I'll…I'll…"

It's about then that she comes to the conclusion that she's threatening one of the most powerful entities in all of creation. It takes her a few more seconds to realize that she honestly doesn't give a shit.

"**Yes, ma'am,"** Magic sounds like he's joking, but a part of her knows that he's not.

"Good," she deposits him back on the bed, a tad ungracefully. His hair is more messy than usual. It kind of made him look a bit frazzled, "Are you alright?"

"**A-are you serious?"** Magic looks bewildered, **"We've cuddled with you on the bus, been molested by you in your bed, and then you demanded that we tell you our life story. And now you're threatening us. We think we're allowed to be a bit 'not alright.'"**

"You didn't mind much of that," she counters.

"**Did we mention the molesting? Because its still very much on our mind. Can we go back to that?"**

She rolls her eyes at him. He is such a guy. "One more question?" He nods, giving her permission, "Why do you address yourself in plural?"

If Magic could smile, Amane swears that a huge Cheshire grin would be plastered across his face right now. He leans forward, bed creaking under him, and whispers his answer into her ear.

* * *

><p>Ryou's back. Amane waits out in front of the house for him to come home. And he has a present for her.<p>

"A necklace…? You got me jewelry?" She whispers as he places the chain in her hands.

Ryou explains that it's a charm meant to protect her from evil, "Well, technically it'll start glowing if something dangerous comes near you. I've got one, too."

They match. He laughs at her comment, "Can we go inside? It's kind of cold out here. I've got stories for you."

She nearly squealed at that, delighted to know even more about this world she's been (willingly) dropped kicked into over the past month. But something's bothering him, Amane can tell. He won't tell her, however she knows something that will cheer him up: that she broke up with Joey.

"Why?" He asks, though doesn't sound disappointed.

"Well, the reason I got together with him doesn't really apply anymore, so…yeah…" Amane explains, though she leaves out the part about Magic and how she kind of really does like him. She hasn't told Ryou about him yet. She wonders if she should.

Probably, you know, just in case Magic mentions it to him in passing. Really don't want him to learn the hard way.

She does it after hearing her mother talk about Ryou so cruelly in front of his face. How could she? Ryou is not an embarrassment. He is wonderful and amazing and everything this woman should want in a son. He tells her later that it's no big deal, that she should 'learn to accept it.' It nearly kills her because she _can't_.

Ryou tells her that Magic couldn't be trusted, but she doesn't really believe him. He doesn't know Magic like she does. Amane's special – he comes to her just to talk.

She wonders why her, why – out of all the people on the earth, past, present, and future – Magic chose her. Amane wonders what his reasons are. She knows that he has them, he always does. Nothing is coincidence with him.

* * *

><p>Amane's packing her bags to go to New York City to meet up with her cousins (they just flew in from the UK with their parents and want to visit) when Magic appears to her again. She doesn't even realize he's in the room until she looks up from putting her bra into the bag.<p>

"Pervert," she calls him.

"**We swear that it was an accident,"** he doesn't look like he's sorry, though. She smirks and rolls her eyes at him.

"You're good at telling the future, right? What does Ryou want for dinner tonight?" Amane asks, "I'm going to leave him money so that he can order in."

"**Pizza. Leave him twenty dollars,"** Magic answers without missing a beat. **"And we can't tell the future, just see the possibilities that present themselves as options. Even then, things can happen without us being about to predict them. Like if the person has an Orichalcos stone on them. Other things, however, are destined to happen."**

She sighs sadly, "That thing is killing you because of the souls it takes from you. I just want to be able to do something, but I feel so useless sometimes."

"**You're not useless, Amane. You are so important, you don't even realize it. You are perfection," **he grabs her toiletries bag and passes it to her to pack.

"Thanks," she says. She frowns, "Why do I think this isn't a social call and something's going on?"

"**Because something is going on. We need to take another look at that ofuda and boost the power to protect inside the house as well as outside. And then we're going to need your help for something,"** Magic tells her, looking grim.

The next thing she knows, they're both downstairs and her bags are at the door. He examines her mother's charm again before placing his hand on it, whispering in rapid fire Japanese for all encompassing protection. For a second, Magic looses his human form and he is nothing but the burning shadow with glowing eyes. The ofuda shines with power and then something causes the air in the house to _move_.

"What the hell was that?" Amane hisses.

"**We drew upon the residual energy from all the years we've been in this house and used to set up a barrier. No one should be able to sense anything that goes on in this house at all,"** Magic does one last check of the strip of paper before walking around the house. She nearly has a heart attack when her mother comes down the stairs and _walks right through him_.

"Have you got your clothes packed?" Mom asks her.

Amane tries not to freak the fuck out, "Y-yeah. I'm already to go."

"Great, I'll get your father. He's taking forever. Again," and with that she runs upstairs.

"How is she not able to see you?" Amane's flick over to where Magic is floating around the ceiling like a balloon, randomly prodding the light fixtures.

"**When we do come here, people don't usually see us. The only reason you can is because you are a special project of ours,"** he makes his way back to ground level. **"And now we really need your help on something."**

"Make it quick. My parents are almost ready and I don't know how long Ryou will stay upstairs," she looks nervously at the stairs.

"**He'll stay. You're parents will come down…but that's needed,"** he takes a deep breath. **"We need you to pretend that we are Ryou Bakura."**

"Wait? What?" Amane looks at him like he's grown another head. He looks a bit irritated, but explains.

"**We've decided to speed up the process a bit. Ryou Bakura was not supposed to know about the Orichalcos until prom night – by the way, take him to that. Drag him if you have to,"** Magic practically orders her to…to…ask Ryou _out_, holy shit! As she sputters, he continues, **"It's probably better this way. Anyways, we're going to go visible. We're going to make the people outside think that the house is empty."**

She can't even get a word out, just nods her head up and down and stares. Magic closes his eyes as a mist begins to curl around his form. As it falls away, he shudders and grimaces. Immediately she rushes to hum.

"Are you alright?"

"Fine. I'm fine," is her answer. Immediately, Amane backs away. His voice, oh god his voice! It's different, human almost. It is no longer the voice of humanity speaking, but that of a single people. Magic sounds like Ryou.

"I can't even remember the last time I did this," he mutters. "I hope I got everything right. Legs? Are they working? Yes," he walks around the room, testing out his body. "How about the arms? Fingers? Yes! Good! Amane, tell me honestly: how do I look?"

"The exact same," her voice is monotone and expresses none of the emotion inside her that can only be described as 'what the fuck?' "No, wait. Look at me for a second."

He does, staring at her intently like she's the only person in the world. It's a bit distracting, actually, "You're eyes. They're white. They don't change or anything."

"I've had to push everyone else to the back. Right now, I am what was originally born when the Shadow Realm was created so that I don't freak people out with my voice," he shuddered again. "I don't like speaking like this. Its very…singular."

"This is _so_ weird," her eye twitches a bit. "When this is over, you go back to your usual voice _immediately_."

"Alright," he agrees.

"So, what do you need to do?"Amane asks.

"First, we're going to wait for your parents to come downstairs. Then, we're going to walk out that door together and I'm going to pretend to be your brother for a good portion of the weekend," he say it so _normally_ that, at first, she thinks he is joking.

He isn't, as it turned out.

As her parents pack the car with bags, Magic leads her by the arm into the backseat. He points out the same Toyota that he investigated the other day. Her fingers dig into the cloth of his shirt, slightly scared of the people inside it who are blatantly staring at her and her supposed sibling.

Amane takes the middle seat in order to continue to cuddle up to Magic. Her mother frowns when she notices the Ryou look-alike, but doesn't comment.

Magic drifts off to sleep about an hour into the trip, his head leaning against her shoulder in a way that is almost intimate. He doesn't snore. In fact, Amane can't even feel him breathing. Her hand touches his wrist in hopes of feeling a pulse. There's nothing.

For a horrifying second, she thinks that he's dead. But then his he shifts slightly, an arm snaking around her waist, and she realizes that his actual human body (body, not form) is incredibly limited. Did he loose certain parts of himself when that Beast bitch went back on her deal?

Amane's never met the woman, but if she ever does, she'll tear the Beast apart for what she did to Magic. She'll give the Beast a real reason to want to hide in her pit.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello!<strong>

**I'd like to thank Poprocks311, Dantemew, and ilovemanicures for their reviews on the last chapter.**

**So this chapter is pretty heavy with Magic's background. A lot more will be revealed in the next chapter of The Others in concerns to the Orichalcos and the Beast. I figured that if I was going to have a god character, I needed a devil character to give him balance. The Orichalcos, and therefore the Beast, is woman mainly because the idea of having a female villain that kills for pure enjoyment is something you don't see everyday.**

**I'd also like to address a comment I got by Dantemew, an anonymous reviewers whom I was unable to get in contact with, who asked:**

_At the end of chapter 6, in your author's note, you talked about Bakura's mother and how she'll be at the end. Well, I was wondering about Bakura's father, what's he like? Actually, I'm wondering about his parents in general. What do they feel about Bakura?_

**I've been getting this question a bit lately. Currently, both of Bakura's parents deny that he is their son. Something is going to happen in the distant future that will turn his mother into the woman described in the last chapter. However, as for his father, all I will say is that their relationship will hit a very rocky patch. I find it difficult to say what will happen to him because it is both incredibly sad and terrible, but it was not Andrew's (Bakura's father) fault. If you search around in the latest chapter of The Other, you can guess what that patch is.**

**I'm sorry I can't be more descriptive. You'll get an idea of what will happen to him in the next few chapters of The Others.**

**Until next time,**

**AlcatrazOutpatient**


	8. The Girl and the Twenty Three Warriors

**The Abnormal: Amane's Tale**

**Disclaimer:** Yu-gi-oh! Duel Monsters is owned by Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, and TV Tokyo. All names were changed to the characters of this fandom in order to protect the real people involved in the following incidents.

* * *

><p><strong>Part 8: The Girl and The Twenty-Three Warriors<strong>

Magic is shy around people, Amane notices. He doesn't talk to people, just stands awkwardly in the corner, shifting from side to side. It takes her a while for her to figure out that while he can talk with her, he doesn't know how to talk to anyone else.

Therefore, the little family reunion that he decided to crash was a complete and utter flop.

She's sitting in the hotel room that her parents rented with him. It's a suite, so she (and technically him because she doesn't think her parents have actually realized that he's there) is on the pull out bed, flipping through the channels on the television. Magic is lying with his head on her stomach, tracing patterns into her skin. Her muscles twitch whenever he grazes over a particularly ticklish spot.

"I feel like a pimp," Amane comments randomly.

Magic frowns, looking up at her with an eyebrow raised, **"Pardon?"**

He uses his usual voice when they are alone, preferring it to the singular Ryou sounding one. In all honesty, she does as well. Amane doesn't think that Magic would be Magic without that plural voice.

"I've got a hot guy curled up against me. I feel like a pimp," she says again.

Magic uncurls himself and flops on top of her, pinning her down and burying his face in her neck. She doesn't feel his breath as he's still in his human body, but his lips graze her skin and he hums in amusement, **"You think we're hot? The feeling's mutual."**

"You're heavy. Off," she shoves his shoulder. He rolls over like a content tomcat, practically purring in the sunbeam that spreads over the pull out bed, "You need to talk to more people other than me, you lazy ass."

"**Not lazy. Just **_**really**_** comfortable,"** he pulls her onto his chest. She wishes she could hear his heart beating, **"Who's the pimp now?"**

"You're avoiding the question," she thumps him with her hand.

"**We're not really here to talk. We're just making sure that no one thinks Ryou Bakura is at home,"** he looks away from her. But Amane's known him long enough to understand that's what he does when he doesn't want to talk about something.

She frowns, rolling onto him, her thighs falling on either side of his hips. It's an unfamiliar position for her, but the reaction she gets out of him is enough to make her want to stay. Magic's eyes snap immediately to her's, wide as his hands tentatively find her hips. Amane crosses her arms over her chest and he tries to keep his gaze on her face. He really tries.

She doesn't mind that he fails. In fact, she kind of likes it.

"What's really doing on?" Amane confronts him, "Magic, you tell me right now. Why are you really here?"

He doesn't answer, just looks away again. She huffs, annoyed, and climbs off of him. Amane grabs the remote and goes back to flipping channels. A few minutes later, she feels warm arms wrap themselves around her in an embrace.

"**You're not going to like it,"** Magic explains.

"I want to know what's going on," she says through clenched teeth. "It's about the Orichalcos and the Beast, isn't it?"

Amane hears him sigh, but feels no air escaping his mouth. Magic nuzzles the crook of her neck, planting a soft kiss there, **"Yes."**

"Why are those people watching my house?"

"**Because the Beast and her horseman have been searching for the Immortal Mortal for a very long time. Atem has been a very painful thorn in their side for a long time now,"** his arms tighten as he relays this new information.

"And they found out that she stayed with Ryou and I after the attack on the White House. They think she's still there," Amane deduced.

"**We assume so,"** she remembers who Magic cannot predict the future of anyone with an Orichalcos stone on them.

"Is Ryou in danger?" She tries not to panic, to suppress the urge to go and check on him even if it meant hopping in the car and driving five hours back to Domino City, damned be the consequences.

Amane feels him shake his head and she relaxes into his hold, **"No. We set up protective spells, remember? They won't be able to sense him and the signal that Atem left will be hidden as well. The Shattered Soul knows enough to conceal himself."**

"Then if the Orichalcos people can't see him then why are you here?" That's the part she doesn't understand. Not that she doesn't want him to be around her – quite the opposite in fact. It's just that he's been so insistent about staying in his visible form, like someone's watching.

She doesn't seem to need to relay this. Magic knows exactly what she means by her question, **"The horseman has been going his job very well. He's got all of the governments in the world under his control. America, the last free country, fell under his control on September 11****th****, 2001."**

"9/11?"

"**The planes were carrying stones, Amane. From there, the US military and government fell into their control,"** his whole body feels like its holding her as he shakes with rage he can't feel. Or maybe it's her rage. Amane hates the Orichalcos, hates the Beast with all her might. But she doesn't understand why because she just heard of the thing. How can she hate something so venomously and not fully understand what it is?

"So the government is watching us? Were they the people in the car? Cause they're not here," she turns to face him, standing up and out of his reach. He looks down and she puts her hands on her hips, "Damn it, Magic. You tell me now or –"

"**The Orichalcos has the US government under its control, Amane. All three branches: the legislative, the executive, and…the judiciary. Law enforcement,"** he explains. It takes her five seconds to connect the dots.

Law enforcement. Like the courts or the CIA. The FBI, which is trying to hunt down Atem. Like…like her father, a simple Domino City cop.

Magic thinks that her father might be reporting back to those using the Orichalcos.

"How do I stop it?" It's the first thing that comes out of her mouth. She has to make sure that this bloody rock doesn't even touch her father.

"**We're sorry,"** his head hangs low.

"There's got to be _something_. Magic, you tell me now! What do I do to make sure that he doesn't do something and get involved? Why are you shaking your head?"

"**Because there's nothing you can do, Amane. We're tried, believe us. With every person that we've identified as being a target for the stone, we've yelled and shouted and invaded their dreams and tried to alter their lives. But nothing works,"** he gets up and moves away from her, towards the small bar area and mini fridge.

"You have to do something! You're God! You're Magic! You can do anything!" Amane shouts.

"**We can't!"** He snaps at her. Magic actually displays a form of anger on his face. She didn't even know that was possible. **"If we could, we would make sure that the Beast never touched a single one of our children – our people! If we could, the stone would have never made it out of Tikal. If we could, there would be no war and no suffering."**

"So what are you doing, Magic? Huh? You said you were fighting, but I don't see how. You're here with me, trying to get me in bed with you again, when you could be out there doing something," she's not afraid of him. Amane stands her ground and yells right back at him.

The fact that she does that without thinking snaps him out of it. He grips the counter for support as he relays his next bit of information.

"**We can't do anything, so we get other people to fight this war for us so that the Beast will be forced from her cage so that she can be killed once and for all,"** Magic's voice is low and full of remorse. He hates what he's doing, but he can't stop because it's his only option. **"If we're a god, we're not one worth worshiping."**

"What people? Atem, she's in on it, I know that much. The Immortal Mortal."

He nods, **"She's not the only immortal that we've got. Ryou Bakura is the other."**

"What? Ryou's not immortal. He's seventeen!"Amane frowns. There was just no way.

"**His current body is seventeen. But his soul is twelve hundred and thirty six years old. He's been reincarnated, if you want to call it that, several times over the last twelve hundred years,"** he informs her. **"His soul was broken in his first life were he was Atem's…ah. You're not going to like this bit."**

"Tell me now," she goes up to him and pokes him in the chest.

"**He was her lover. She was cursed for trying to bring him back from the dead. She succeeded."**

It hurts, it really does. Lover. Oh god, they were really destined for each other. It was written since before she was born that the man she was in love with was to be given to another woman.

"Oh," Amane sways and moves back to the pull out bed, sitting down and putting her face in her hands. She tries to keep the tears at bay, but they roll down her cheeks regardless.

She hears Magic's footsteps come towards her, gently taking her wrists and pulling her hands away. He kneels before her and wipes the tears off of her skin with his thumb.

That's when Amane realizes that, even after all this waiting and the years where she pretended to hate him and the last few months of bliss, Ryou was never going to see her as anything other than his sister. He would never love her as anything but a sister.

"**Please don't cry, Amane. We don't like seeing you sad,"** his hand is so warm against her skin. She leans into his gentle touch, daring herself to look into his white eyes. In them she sees a degree of love that she didn't even know was possible.

She doesn't understand why he picked her, of all the people in the world. She feels so dirty, knowing of all the other men she'd let touch her, let inside her. Amane wishes for the first time in a very long while that she were still a virgin, so that she would feel somewhat pure in Magic's presence.

Why would he ever want her? Why would he ever want to love her? She's nothing.

But he does. Despite everything, Magic _loves_ her. She can't understand why.

His gentleness is killing her, so Amane hides herself in his arms. She clings to his shirt as she breaks again. The loss of Ryou and the impossibility that is Magic utterly destroys her.

He holds her through the shakes and he holds her though the tremors. She honestly hopes that Magic never leaves her.

He doesn't. He holds her head high and tells her that she's done nothing wrong by loving Ryou. He whispers his usual line, **"We cannot love. But if we could, we would love you"** and this time she believes him.

It takes a while for Amane to calm herself down. When she does, her voice is more determined than she's ever been before, "There are others who are your fighters. Who are they?"

He pauses in thought for a second before responding, **"There are a lot of them. The Immortal Mortal. The Shattered Soul. The Commander and his Tame Beast. The Dark Horse, the Perfect Spy and the Always-There Man. The Messenger. The Double Agent, the Warrior Woman, the Silent One, the Healer, and the Not-Quite Twins. The Magician Girl. The Death Child, the Fire Starter, and the Tigress. The Prince and Princess. The Liar and the Foreigner. The Caregiver. And H-"** He grimaces for a second before a second before saying, **"And the Ultimate Weapon."**

"That's a lot of people," she pulls out of his arms and attempts to stand.

"**There are more, but those are the main ones,"** Magic answers.

"And what do I do? What do you need me to do?" Amane can't see herself as any of those people, so why is she here? What is her purpose?

"**You have a great gift, Amane. You should use it more often,"** he tells her.

"But I can't consciously use my Abnormal power," she frowns.

For a second, she thinks that Magic is almost about to laugh, but it disappears quickly, **"We're not talking about those, gh05twr1tt3r."**

Of course! It finally clicks: Magic created her with a mind to hold secrets, a place where no one could come into except for him (and even then, it was only if she let him). It was time that she started to hide things in it.

"You bad boy," she smirks at him, "for making me guess that one."

"**Are you going to spank us?"**

"Pervert."

"**You know you like it,"** She smacks him upside the head. He pouts, **"That's not what we meant."**

"Don't care."

"**Amane, our head hurts. Kiss it better,"** he pounces and pulls her onto the bed with him.

"No."

"**Amaaane."**

"Still not happening."

"**Tease."**

"And proud of it."

"…**We're not getting anything anytime soon, are we?"**

"Not if you keep whining like a five year old," she tries to squirm out of his tight hug, but can't. She's laughing too hard.

"**What happens if we stop whining?"** Oh, she shouldn't have given him that option. Or maybe she should have.

"I'll take into consideration," Amane tells him.

"**Hmmnn,"** he hums. **"You feeling better now?"**

She blinks and stops struggling, relaxing into his embrace, "Yeah. Thank you."

"**For you, Amane, we'd do anything to see your smile,"** he touches her lips with his fingers. **"Because you're the best thing to happen to us in nineteen thousand years."**

* * *

><p>"I need your advice on something," Amane calls Tea the moment she gets back. Well, not really the moment she does because she needs to see Ryou and she needs to make sure that he's safe. She tries to stay as far away from her father as possible, but it's very hard to do in a small car.<p>

Once she's made sure that he's in once piece and that Magic isn't tailing around her (because she really doesn't want him to hear this), she calls her best friend. She really needs some girl talk right now.

"Can you come over?" Amane asks.

"Come over…nonono! Can't do that," Tea, surprisingly, freaks out at the idea of coming to her house.

"What's wrong?"

"Forget it. Whatcha need to talk about?" She hurriedly changes the topic.

"It's boy trouble," Amane sighs.

"Is this about the flower guy? You found out who he is!" The girl grins through the phone. "Oh my god, is he also the sex god that you met a month ago?"

"Yes," she says, knowing full well if Magic could hear what Tea just called him, then his already huge ego would double in size. At a minimum. Fifty at a max.

"So? Who is he?"

"Uh…Ted. Ted Lewis. But here's the problem: he does have a brother."

Amane explains it like Magic is Ryou's older sibling, saying that she likes both but prefers the little brother, who's not even remotely interested. However, she tells Tea that the mysterious 'Ted' is in love with her.

"So what do I do? I'm just really confused. M – Ted is the sweetest guy I've ever met and he says that I'm the best thing that's happened to him in a _very_ long time, but I just can't let go of Ry…uh, Chuck," she uses her code name for Ryou.

"Wow. This Ted guy really is that nice? Forget Chuck, girl, cause boys like him are a dime a dozen. I'm so jealous," Tea sighs. "I just wish there was someone out there like that for me."

Amane frowns. In all her years knowing her, Tea has never once mentioned the idea of a long-term relationship with someone. What had changed?

"Tea. Who is he?" She's met someone, it's so obvious.

"Who's who?"

"Tea."

"No one. There's no one!" Tea stumbles over her own words, failing to deny it at all, "It doesn't matter that he's totally into all that chivalry stuff and is really good at kissing –"

"Tea. Who. Is. He."

"Your brother."

Amane's jaw drops. Ryou…Ryou kissed…? What the fucking hell?

"You are shitting me!"

"Look, I know that he's totally creepy, but he's still really good looking – in a pale, vampire that doesn't sparkle kind of way – but then I remembered that you went through your Goth phase when you hooked up with Pete, and even though he said no, he –"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down!" She stops her friend there, "Ryou said _no_?"

"That's the thing! At first I thought he was gay or something –" Ryou? Gay? What? "- but then he said that it was because I wasn't this girl that he really likes and the fact that I wasn't my…uh, I wasn't thinking straight, so he said no," Tea stammers through her explanation.

"When did this happen?" Amane asks.

"Over the weekend," she answers.

"Tea, did something else happen? Cause some stuff in my room was out of place when I got back," her phone beeps, letting her know that its almost out of batteries. She activates the wireless charging option and continues to talk.

"No! Nothing else happened," she lets out some nervous laughter. "I must have moved your stuff. It was raining and I borrowed some of your clothes to change into. I'll give them to you when I see you at school."

"But you like him. You like Ryou," she can't believe it.

"I dunno. It's just I never even knew there were guys out there like him," Tea sighs into the microphone and she can just see the dreamy expression on her face. "I mean, you've got someone who's so hung up on you, who sends you flowers and loves you and everything. Is it so wrong that I want that too?"

It's not wrong. But the thing is, Tea's never going to get that out of Ryou. Just like she will never get it out of him. He's destined for Atem, always has and always will be. Her heart's already broken. She doesn't want Tea to have to face that as well.

"Just be careful, okay. We've never really been into these sorts of things before – actual relationship-relationships. They're a whole other level than…" Amane tries to search for another phrase for one-night stand without sounding like a total slut. It's just that that's what they've been for years without really thinking about it and now they want to change.

"We're growing up, aren't we? Soon enough we'll be off to college. Then we'll get married, have kids…" Tea pauses for a second, "What do you think the future holds for us?"

It's at this moment where Amane realizes that she doesn't know. She belongs to a different world than her best friend does. She knows about magic, actually _knows_ Magic, and has an immortal brother that she knows that she'll stand by through anything even though he doesn't love her the way she wants him to. And then there's the Orichalcos and how it's going to get her dad, probably killing him in the process.

Magic told her that he was speeding up the timeline so that Ryou would learn of the Orichalcos sooner rather than later, so he know what it is by know. And if he's the Shattered Soul, then he's a major player in Magic's army against the Beast. He's going to be fighting in the war.

And that's when she realizes just what her future is: war. Amane's going to fight. She's going to save Magic, protect Ryou and her family, and make sure that the Beast ends up dead.

And there isn't a damn thing that anyone's going to do to change that fact.

* * *

><p>Somehow – Amane doesn't know how she did it, but she pulls it off – she manages to invite Ryou to prom. She thinks, for a second, he sees the true reason for her nervousness, but brushes it off as an impossibility.<p>

But she did it. Ryou's her date. She nearly faints when she finds the tickets in her locker, the excitement getting to her and makes her jump up and down. Tea frowns when she sees that the note is signed with an R, asking how many guys does she have wrapped around her finger.

"It's not that," she explains. "He's just a friend of mine."

She can tell that Tea doesn't believe her.

But the note says that Ryou doesn't have enough money to get himself a suit for prom, so she steels one of her mom's credit cards and helps him get one. The one they rent is dark and makes him look a white haired James Bond. He fidgets awkwardly in it when he comes out of the change room but relaxes a little when she jokes with him, saying that he looked awesome.

His face goes absolutely red at that. She wonders how it was possible for someone who was supposedly so old could behave so childlike, but then she thinks of Magic and realizes maybe it was a coping mechanism. Ryou just wasn't used to compliments, especially about his appearance.

It's too bad. He's pretty good looking in the right clothes. He should be told that more often.

Amane drags him dress shopping with the girls the next day. Ryou drags his feet the entire time, but carries their bags anyways. She tells him that since she came with him, he's going to return the favour. It doesn't stop him from grumbling the entire time about being tortured.

While Serenity slips into the changing room with a flicker of flowing pink, Amane searches the racks of the handmade dresses in the store. Most of the ones seem to be far too short or too girly. No offense to Duke's girlfriend, but all there seems to be here are things that she might wear – oh.

Oh my. It's perfect. Amane doesn't even care if this dress doesn't fit her right, she'll wear it anyways.

She smuggles it into the change room, quickly undressing and sliding on the long, white dress. It was like it was made for her, fitting the curves of her body perfectly. Now if only she could reach the zipper in the back.

"**Let us get that,"** she nearly jumps when Magic appears behind her, his thousand voices warm and seductive. Amane's knees threaten to give out as he slowly tugs the zipper up her spine, fingers brushing against her skin as she feel his breath against her shoulder.

"You're not visible," she comments when her brain decides to start working again.

"**No. Would you like us to be?"**

"Not really," Amane turns around and places a hand on his chest. She can feel the faint beat of his heart through inches of skin, bones, and clothes. "You're missing bits when you do."

He closes a hand over hers and pulls her closer – or maybe she pulls him, she can't really remember. His eyes widen when he sees her from the front.

"**Wow. You look really, really beautiful,"** he's almost rendered speechless. Amane remembers Tea's words over the phone and wonders if Ryou would ever tell her that. Even if he did, she doubts that he'd mean them in the way that Magic does.

"Thanks. Hey, Magic?"

"**Hmmm,"** his other hand toys with a lock of her hair, twirling it around his finger while he stares at her with his ever changing eyes.

"In a week, it's Serenity's birthday. It's her sweet sixteen and we want to take her out on the town," she tells him. "Its this all-ages night club and I was wondering if…uh, if…"

Geez, it was not this hard to ask Ryou to freaking prom. It would probably get easier if Magic wasn't staring at her like that. He tilts his head, inquiring silently what she wants.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come," Amane forces out.

_That_ shocks him into silence. His jaw drops and he steps back, rubbing the back of his neck.

"**U-us?"**

"I dunno. Is there an other physical embodiment of humanity and the source of all life in the room? Cause I don't see one," She smirks at him.

"**We guess not,"** he actually looks around to check, the moron. **"A-are you sure? We thought you were still, uh, sorting things out."**

"I am. I've pretty much got things covered on Ryou's side. I just need to sort things out on your end," she can't hold back her smile, one that's crooked and full of unknown promises.

"**Really?"** It's an odd thing, hearing several million voices crack all at the same time.

"Really," Amane tells him.

"**We're going to have to become Ryou Bakura again, aren't we?"** He licks his lips as she stalks closer, leaning a hand against the wall behind him. Looks like their positions are now reversed.

"Unless you can change how you look, then yes," she tells him.

"**Not to the point where we could be anyone else,"** he admits. Then in a flash, is hand is at the back of her neck and he pulls her into a kiss. She's so surprised at first that she almost forgets to respond. He always does this, pulling something from out of the blue, but Amane likes it so she doesn't complain.

"**We'll pick you up at seven then?"** And with that the bastard tosses her out of the change room and disappears like he was never there. Oh, she is going to get him later for this! She's going to sick Tea on him and let her best friend scare the living daylights of him.

Her annoyance dissolves completely when Ryou sees her, his eye looking only as her as he whispers, "You look amazing."

It doesn't matter that Tea thinks that the dress looks too much like something a bride would wear. To be honest, that's exactly why she picked it. It is her one last chance to relive her childhood dreams of purity before she enters a world of war and bloodshed, of death and destruction.

Amane knows that there will be no wedding vows at the end of her one and only date with Ryou, no I Dos and Always Yours'. And she accepts that.

But there may be with Magic.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello all!<strong>

**I'd like to thank those who reviewed for the last chapter: ilovemanicures, Yuui, Ebony-Ivory-and-Rachele, and VivienneLaFaye.**

**So Magic isn't exactly a social butterfly when it comes to people other than Amane. He actually uses something similar to the Ward to make sure that people don't want to talk to him when he is in physical form. He calls it the Notice-Me-Not Spell. But Amane's going to make him interact with people when they go out on their date, so he's going to have to be a bit social.**

**And now, I am off to write the final chapter of The Others: The First Year. I can't believe it myself.**

**Until next time,**

**AlcatrazOutpatient**


	9. The Girl and the Inhuman Human

**The Abnormal: Amane's Tale**

**Disclaimer:** Yu-gi-oh! Duel Monsters is owned by Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, and TV Tokyo. All names were changed to the characters of this fandom in order to protect the real people involved in the following incidents.

* * *

><p><strong>Part 9: The Girl and the Inhuman Human<strong>

Serenity's never been to a club before, her wardrobe is proof of that. Tea and Amane glance from her to each other before unanimously deciding that she needed a new outfit for her birthday party. The girl protests almost the entire way to the mall, but they are relentless.

"Serenity, you don't even have a proper bra that fits you," Tea puts her hands on her hips as Amane practically stuffs Duke's girlfriend (never thought she'd be saying that allowed) in the backseat. "Besides, you're turning sixteen. Think of this as an early birthday present."

Five hours later, they drop off a very embarrassed Serenity Wheeler at her apartment with new underwear - "Amane, she's been wearing sports bras for all of high school." "So?" "Serenity has bigger boobs than me!" "Tea, you're barely a B. Everyone has bigger boobs than you." - five new shirts - "Serenity, try this one!" "Amane, I drew the line at halter tops. That is see-through." "Your point?" - two pairs of jeans - "I can't breathe!" - and one pair of really nice heals - "Left or right, Serenity." "I don't know." "Make a choice." "...kind of like them both."

Make that two pairs of really nice heals.

Amane pays for everything. Well, it appears that she's paying for everything, but in reality it's the Spanish government that is unknowingly picking up the tab. gh05twr1tt3r has returned to the Internet and has established it as her own little empire. The poor Spaniards' should have updated the security surrounding their gold. It would have given her more of a challenge. She thinks she'll go for Italy next and then work her way up to Switzerland.

But the fact that she has several million euros in her back pocket isn't enough to make her nervous. It's not the fact that her Internet handle is neck and neck with Yugi Mutuo when it comes to international criminal infamy. No, it is her own father that terrifies her the most.

She catches him trying to pick the lock on Ryou's bedroom door once. He stops as soon as he sees her coming up the stairs, moving away as if he was never there. There are other nights where he doesn't come home at all. He calls mom on those afternoons, saying that he's got a big case and that he's up for promotion. He needs to stay behind because something big is going to happen soon. Dad can't tell her much, but Amane thinks that he's going to be part of a raid some time within the next few weeks.

She's tapped the land lines and her parent's cell phones. Every call, every text message, every little thing that they do is recorded onto her laptop for her to go through at the end of the day. There is an extensive log of all the Internet sites that they visit, both on their phones and home computer. She's compiling a complete history of both of her parents, digging into their lives in a desperate hope for something - anything - that will help keep the Orichalcos away.

In her other free time, Amane researches old protective enchantments and ornaments from old pagan practices. She goes out and buys wind chimes and dream catchers, hanging them from her ceiling in hopes of warding off evil. She also buys a large bag of salt from the grocery store and pours it discretely around the walls of her room. Amane hopes that they will be enough to protect her and the information that is inside these four walls.

She's also been thinking about her future. Amane knows that it's going to be filled with war against the beast and the Orichalcos, but less than a year ago, she didn't know that. She gets her first reminder of what that old was like when Tristan gets accepted into Columbia in New York City. She remembers that, not long ago, she too had sent in applications to college. But now she doesn't want to go.

Amane takes this opportunity to start thinking about moving out of her parents house and into an apartment. It would give her more control over the protection that she could have. With her alternate identity of gh05twr1tt3r, she could easily score a penthouse suite in one of the best condominiums in America, but that would raise too many questions as to where she got the money. Amame thinks that she'll bum it in a small place for a while and then make her way up. From Italy to Switzerland, one might say.

She realizes that what she's really considering is running away - running from her father and leaving her mother to his mercy. Amane actually considers leaving now, just packing her bags and disappearing off the face of the Earth. But then she thinks of Ryou and how he would probably tear the city apart, if not the entire country, looking for her if he came home from Atlantis and she was gone. She puts the idea out of her mind and decided to stay, if only for the sake of his sanity.

She wonders if this is what it's like to be a soldier. Amane wonders how long it's going to be before she goes out and gets herself a gun. She doubts that it will be that long because she's already bought herself a switchblade. A gun is just the next logical step.

* * *

><p>The clock turns seven when Magic appears in front of her. Unfortunately for him, she'd expected him to do that and was fully clothed with no undergarments within sight. He tries not to look too disappointed as he becomes completely physical and looses his heartbeat, his breath, his signature plural voice.<p>

"I mentioned that you were coming to Serenity and she's fine with it," Amane explains as they wait together on her front porch for Tea to come pick them up. Magic's toes curl in the grass at his feet.

"I thought it would be appropriate if I brought her a gift," he seems to pull a wrapped box from out of no where.

"Can I know what it is?" She asks.

"Serenity likes things made of stained glass. She likes the colours that they cast on the wall when the light shines through them. It's just something that she can hang in her window," he comments, leaning back and cracking his neck in a way that is all too human. "I can't believe she's already sixteen. It seems like just yesterday when she was born."

"You were there when she was born?" Amane says without thinking, before realizing that of course he was there. Magic was practically everywhere at once, so he was probably there when Serenity was born.

"I was there when you were born as well," he admits. "Ryou Bakura was not as loud as you were, but you slept easier than him ever did as an infant. And while your parents were asleep at night, sometimes I used to go into your room and just sit with the pair of you. I even changed your brother's diaper once."

"Don't ever tell him that, he'd be too embarassed," Amane laughs.

"It is not something I want to remember," he shudders at the memory, before turning his head towards on end of the street. She takes that as a sign that Tea is about to arrive. Amane stands and helps Magic to his feet. He holds her hand until Tea's car comes around the corner.

He looks nice, she notices. In fact, she would go as far as to say that Magic dressed up a bit for this. Not in the sense that he's wearing something fancy - on the other hand, he looks more like an actual teenager going out with his friends. He's clad in faded jeans and a white hoodie with an interesting swirling design on the back. Amane can see that something is written on his white shirt, but has no idea what it says.

"Hey, you two! Get in!" Tea waves from the driver's seat. Magic stiffens, but Amane hooks her arm around his and together they walk to the car. She elbows him in the side to get him to talk.

"Th-thank you, Tea," he stammers from where he sits in the back with her. She realizes that this is probably the first time he'd ever talked to another human, aside from herself, in over a millennia.

"For what?" Tea asks as she pulls out of the drive way.

"For driving us," he leans forward, eager for more communication.

"No prob," she grins into the rear view mirror. Amane frowns slightly at Tea's new attitude towards the being she thinks is her brother.

Magic whispers in her ear, "I don't have the Ward."

"Oh," she murmurs back as his hand finds her's again.

"So, Joey's driving Serenity and picking up Tristan," Tea explained from the front. "Duke's coming on his own. We'll have to wait for him, cause it's his cousin that owns the place. Until then," she reached down and cracked the music on the radio, "let's go!"

It usually takes about half an hour to get to the club, however they make it in twenty because Tea keeps hitting green lights all the way down. They seem to change just as she starts pulling up. Amane has the sneaking suspicion that Magic is doing something to make that happen.

Usually, it's only Tea and Amane that sing along to the songs when they do to parties and have friends in the car. However, Magic joins them, knowing the lyrics to every beat that comes onto the station. It gets tot he point where Tea decides to play Name That Tune with him. Magic can not only name the song title and band name for each song, but the album name, the year that CD was first released, and track number of the song. She finally gives up after he gets her on Hanging by a Moment by Lifehouse.

"How do you know all of that?" She asks, exasperated and slightly awed.

"I know a little bit of everything," he answers. Amane chuckles in the background, knowing his secret.

But Magic looks absolutely ecstatic. When he looks at her, asking silently if he's going a good job at talking, his eyes are bright with pure joy. She even sees the corners of his lips twitching into a smile as Tea continues to talk to him.

When their car finally pulls into the parking lot, Magic is the first to hop out of the car. He holds the door open for Amane, helping her out. He leans over enough that she can finally see what's written on his shirt. It sends her into such a fit of laugher that she nearly collapses.

"I don't get the joke," Tea stares at her.

"Neither do I," Magic raises an eyebrow in confusion. She continues to laugh at the guy because only on him would a t-shirt that said 'I was an atheist, but then I realized I am God' be this hilarious.

* * *

><p>Joey tried to pick her up again. She turns him down as nicely as she could and watches him slick back over to were Tristan is sitting. Amane walks passed the dance floor, knowing that Duke and Serenity are somewhere in the mass of dancing bodies. She finds a seat at the bar and orders herself a Diet Coke. She hasn't touched alcohol since...that night when Keith disappeared.<p>

An instant later, Magic is at her side, lifting himself onto the chair beside her that she could swear was empty a few moments earlier. The bartender asks if he wants anything. He ask for tap water, of all things. The guy behind the counter gives him an odd look, but a few minutes later a Black Eye Peas song is playing and they are both sipping on their drinks.

"So?" She nudges him with her shoulder, "Is it as bad as you thought it would be?"

"I never thought it would be bad," he shrugs. "Serenity likes her gift."

"That she does," Amane remembers the girl's face when she opened it as they were waiting for Duke. Serenity had been utterly delighted and had actually hugged Magic. He hadn't known what to do for a second, glancing at her for any form of advice. She didn't give any, just to be annoying. He got the hang of hugging eventually.

"That was really sweet of you," she comments as the bartender comes back to ask if they want refills on their drinks. Magic stops him and looks the man dead in the eye.

"She's not the one for you," he tells the man.

The guy frowns, "What?"

"Your girlfriend. But that smell on her you've been thinking is cologne is actually women's perfume and it's not her's," Magic holds his gaze. "Don't be too harsh on her, she's only just come to term with who she really is."

"O-okay," the man stumbles off, looking a bit dazed. He brings over their refills, but doesn't ask for any money.

"What the hell was that?" Amane hisses at him.

Magic blinks, "His girlfriend is just admitted to herself that she's a lesbian. He's been thinking that she's been cheating on him with his older brother. He's wrong: it's with a woman that he doesn't know."

"How do you - no, wait. I know. Sorry, I forgot for a second," Amane shakes her head, looking at him from the corner of her eye. He takes a quick drink of his water before continuing.

"I'm not human, Amane. I'm never going to be human," he tells her. "I know who every person in this room is. I know who they are, who they were, and who they will be. I know they're parents and their parent's parents. I know that you share common ancestors with five people in this room if you go back ten generations and eight if you go back twenty. And that includes that guy over there," Magic points to some creeper kid at the other end of the bar, "who's been eying you all night."

"Well, that's one hell of a turn off," she looks at the kid, who couldn't be a day over fourteen but was trying to score with her.

"Trust me, I can read his mind. If you saw what was going on his mind right now, you would be reaching for the mace in your bag right now," Magic sends the kid a glare that sends him running to the other side of the room.

"Nice," Amane comments. "Is this going to be the part where you say that you're too old, too dangerous to be with me? That because you're not human and all."

She hopes that that is not the case. It would totally ruin what she wanted to tell him tonight.

Instead he looks a bit embarassed, "Ah, no. That's not what I was going to say."

"What then?" She asks.

"I thought you'd find it cool," he rubs the back of his neck.

It's then that she realizes just what Magic is doing. For all this insane powers and crazy-ass back story, his castle and his workroom and his library, he is simply trying to impress her. It's like when a guy shows off his car to the girl he likes. Except with him, Magic is showing her his abilities.

He's so inhuman that he's human. He's so brilliant that he's an idiot. He's so weak that he's the strongest person in the world.

He's so imperfect that he is perfect. And he's hers. Amane reaches forward on impulse and pulls his face towards her's, kissing him full on the mouth. She doesn't give a damn if anyone sees her. She doesn't care if they think she's kissing Ryou because she's not. She's kissing Magic. And he's finally gotten out of his stupor to start kissing her back.

When he pulls back, his eyes are ridiculously wide. He's panting, but no breath comes out of his mouth. Then he reaches down, pulling the bar stool she's sitting on closer to him and then goes right back to kissing her. This time, it's soft and slow, one of his hands at the base of her neck and the other on the small of her back. Hers have long since disappeared into his hair. Amane comes to the conclusion that this is probably one of her better decisions in life.

She's the one that breaks the kiss this time, only because she's the one that actually needs to breathe in order to survive. Before she can go back to him, Magic looks to the side and groans.

"What's wrong?" Amane gasps.

"Duke and Joey saw us. They think -"

"Magic, if they want to watch, they can cough up an entrance fee," she tells him. "They can tell who ever they want. I don't care."

**"But we thought..."** his voice slipped back into his plural one of a second. The he tried to go back into his singular one, but quiet halfway through. **"We thought that you were just figuring things out."**

"I have figured things out. Better question: have you?" Amane leans forwards and plants a kiss on his neck. She wants him, bad enough at when she looks over to where Duke and Joey are standing dumbstruck, she smirks into Magic's skin.

**"Yeah. We've figured a few things out,"** he backs away. **"Adrian!"**

The bartender jumps when Magic calls, moving back to them with almost frightening speed, "Yeah?"

**"We came here with a few friends. They look like this,"** he grabs the bartender by the hand and lost his human form for a second, becoming the burning shadow. As he returns to the way he was, Adrian steps back in shock, **"Could you tell them that we went back to our place?"**

The bartender nods dumbly. Amane gets a bit tired of waiting, so she drags Magic out of the club and around into the alley. She pushes him in the wall and claims his lips for her own. He's hers. He's totally and completely hers.

**"Wait,"** he hisses into her mouth.

"No. No more waiting. I've been stupid enough to let this go on for as long as it has," Amane tries to kiss him again, but Magic holds her at arms length. For one horrifying moment, she fears that he'll reject her.

**"Not that kind of waiting,"** he tells her. **"It's just...we can't do this, like this."**

"You're not making sense."

Magic leans his head back against the bricks before taking her hand and pressing it against his neck, **"We have no heartbeat in this form. No heartbeat means not blood flow, which means...please don't make us say it."**

Amane frowns in confusion for a few seconds before looking down and...oh. No blood flow meant no erection for him.

"So go invisible," she feels like pulling on her hair in frustration. She wanted him so badly and now there was this whole thing to deal with.

**"Amane, there is a garbage can next to us,"** Magic sighs. She looks and low and behold, there is one right there. It makes her feel like a hooker he just met, meeting him in a place like this. Amane feels dirty - really dirty. She backs away from him.

"I'm...I'm so sorry. I just got carried away," she mumbles. "Shit, I never should have - I thought you'd want...you know what this is just stupid, I'm sorry - mhnn!"

Magic pulls her back towards him, kissing her with every ounce of desperation that runs through his body and yet he cannot feel. She finds herself doing the exact same thing to him and suddenly he's walking her backwards. Her legs hit the end of her bed and she figures that he must have teleported her there at some point. When he pulls back for breath, she realizes that his eyes are changing again and he's back to how she first met him.

Amane gently touches his face and Magic looks at her with one of his smoldering gazes. She knows that he's not human, knows and excepts that fact. She knows that he is incapable of feeling any emotion, but that doesn't stop him from being the most emotional person she's ever met. She knows that he loves her, somewhere deep down in the core of his being, a part of him that he thinks he's lost but hasn't really. Amane knows and accepts him for all that he his.

**"Are you sure?"** He asks her one more time.

"I love you," she tells him in return. Amane doesn't know where that came from, but it seems to fit. She once thought that she would only love Ryou. She was wrong. Because Magic isn't Ryou, he will never be Ryou. And while she will always love Ryou, she is still in love with this inhuman human, this imperfectly perfect person.

Magic tries to force out the returning phrase for those three words, but can't. She wonders if he can lie. She doesn't think he can. Amane smiles anyways, placing a single finger on his lips to silence him.

"I know," she says to him. "I also know you can't say it. Could you...show me instead?"

**"We think we can do that,"** Magic whispers huskily, kissing her jawline lightly. Amane's hands find the zipper of his hoodie, pulls it all the way down and pushes it off of him.

"I still can't believe you wore that shirt," she snickers when she reads the line that is written on the fabric. He looks down.

**"Wait, this was what you were laughing at?"**

"Yes!" She rolls her eyes, "Now shut up and kiss me."

He does. They stumble their way onto her bed and he kisses her everywhere. His hands are a bit rough, but his touch is soft and gentle and wonderful. Amane clings to him as Magic practically worships her body, driving her to the brink of madness without even being inside her.

When her mind starts to make it's way back to planet Earth, she finds him with his face between her legs. Amane's hands find his hair and she hopes that he doesn't make her scream too loudly because her parents might be home and oh god, do that again!

He leaves her so close to completion it physically hurts. Magic move up, tongue swirling around her belly button for one moment before capturing her mouth again. Amane practically begs him to just please, please do it. She wants to be closer to him. She's not close enough and she wants to be be, but they're not.

She nearly screams in agony when he shifts off to the side away from her to dig in the bedside table for condoms. In his haste, Magic nearly drops the contents of the entire box on the floor. His hands shake almost uncontrollably as he tries to put the thing on himself. She tries to help, but can't do much because her entire body has been turned to putty by him.

He leans over her one last time, but instead of kissing her Magic shakily forces **"We want to love you"** out of his mouth. And then suddenly, he's inside her. He's moving and Amane forgets how to breath for a few minutes. She can't tell where she ends and Magic begins. They're as close as they are ever going to get. They are one with one another.

She loves him. She loves him. Amane tells him this constantly, with each thrust of his body and between every single one of her gasps. She loves him. She has never loved someone like she loves him. She will always love him.

Always and forever.

Her name is the only language Magic knows, the only thing he is capable of saying. And he stares into her eyes as she explodes, following a second behind her. When the stars disappear from her vision, he is collapsed on top of her, breathing hard and his body a mass of involuntary twitches. Pulling out of her makes him make a very strange noise as he rolls off of her. He waves his hand and the used condom disappears from sight.

When Magic turns to face her, changing eyes still staring directly at her, she doesn't think she's ever known anyone to be as beautiful as him.

Her eyes droop and a wave of tiredness washes over her. Magic touches her lips gently with his fingers, as if in awe of her existence. It is only then that she realizes that he's smiling.

When she comments on it, Magic brings her hand towards his chest. He settles it over where his heart is, **"It feels warm. Better than warm. Is this happiness?"**

"I think so," she snuggles up to his body. "It's too bad, though."

**"What's too bad?" **He asks.

"You wore me out completely. I wanted to go a second round at least," Amane chuckles as darkness starts to invade the corners of her vision.

**"You could...always come over to our place,"** Magic suggests.

"Aren't you worried that we'll keep the entire castle up?" She jokes sleepily.

He whispers his next words to her just as she slips into the world of her dreams, of her Soul Room and his castle, **"Amane. You. Us. Our room. Desk. Now."**

* * *

><p>Amane wakes up the next morning to her cell phone going off. It chirps and buzzes on her nightstand, forcing her into reality. Magic's arm is slung over her hip as his body curves against hers. His grip tightens when she shifts away from him to grab it.<p>

**"It's Tea,"** he mumbles against her back. **"She wants to know how you got home."**

"Well then, I'll need to answer her or she might call the cops," Amane smiles at his reluctance to let her go. She answers her incoming call with a bright and cheery "Good morning!"

"Amane, it's practically noon," Tea is rolling her eyes, she can just feel is. "I just woke you up, didn't I?"

"Kind of. I had a late night," she grins as Magic blearily opens his changing eyes and moves away, getting up to grab his boxers that have migrated to the farthest corner of her room. He raises an eyebrow suggestively when he catches her staring at him.

"It was with Ted. Except his name isn't Ted, is it Amane?" Tea's voice is surprisingly not dark or accusing. It's accepting, almost as if she's known...Amane's blood runs cold as she finally realizes that her best friend knows a lot more than she lets on, "I don't know who you brought with you last night, but he was not your brother."

"How did you...?"

"Figure it out? Amane, I'm not an idiot. Your brother has red eyes and the person that you brought had eyes that were white," she says it like she's telling her the time of day. "What kind of person has white eyes? And for that matter, what kind of person has red ones?"

"Tea, please. I can't answer those questions," Amane sits up. Magic puts his hoodie around her shoulders, sounding her with warmth. Then he sits beside her on the bed, waiting for the call to end, head tilted to the side as he listens to Tea's words from a far.

"I don't want get involved in what you're getting into. Something tells me that I don't want to know anyways," she sighs into the receiver. "But...who ever he is, does he make you happy?"

Amane looks at Magic, sitting there in nothing but a pair of boxers. Her face softens at the sight, "Yes, he does."

His eyes snap to her's as they continue to change their color. They are full of his love for her. She wonders if she can see the same love in her eyes.

"Then don't you dare let him go," Tea tells her before hanging up. Amane slowly sets the phone down, turning to him.

**"We...make you happy?"** He hesitantly asks.

She chuckles softly at him, "Very happy."

**"Amane, you make us very happy too,"** he leans forwards and kisses her softly. Amane smiles into his kiss and embraces him and all that he is.

And then they begin the Great Clothing Search, which surprisingly enough takes them a full fifteen minutes to complete.

"Magic, how the hell did my panties get over there?"

**"We were in a bit of a hurry!"**

"Moron."

**"Your moron."**

Blush, "Sh-shut up."

**"Never. Never ever ever."**

* * *

><p>"Are you at least going to tell me how old the guy is?" Tea asks, exasperated with Amane for not telling her a damn thing about the mystery man.<p>

"No, Tea. Trust me, you wouldn't believe me even if I did tell you," she answers.

"Older or younger than you. Come on, give me that much," the girl leans forwards and hisses, hoping not to attract the attention of Ms. Madusa

"Older," Amane tells her.

"How much older?"

Amane gives her a look that says 'Back off.' She doesn't, "So why does he look like your brother?"

"He doesn't," she feels like slamming her head into her desk. "Ryou looks like him."

"Does he know about this guy?"

"Knows him: no. Knows of him: yes."

"So your brother copies his style, like a celebrity or something?" Tea is on the edge of her seat.

Amane shakes her head, "No. Not like that."

Actually, she doesn't know why the two of them look so similar. It's something that's been nagging at her mind for a while, but she's never gotten around to asking Magic about it. She should probably do that sooner rather than later.

The girl behind Amane pokes her in the shoulder and passes a note to her. It's written on a scrap of lined paper in Duke's handwriting: 'We need to talk.' She looks back at the guy and he grimaces at her glare.

After class, Duke follows her outside the school and behind the bleachers. Tilla Mook and Pete Coppermine are lip locked and half naked there. Amane raises an eyebrow, "Can you two get a room? And if I may suggest one, use the janitors closet on the third floor. No one ever goes in there."

Red in the face and embarrassed at getting caught, the pair of them stumble away righting their clothes. Amane turns on Duke, "It's none of your business about what you saw on Saturday."

"I know it's not," he looks around anxiously. "It's none of my business how you and your brother are when you're alone. I've known for a while and I've been trying to keep it secret for you two."

"You what?" Her jaw drops. Someone found out about her feelings for Ryou? Duke knew and the first thing he does is try to keep it under wraps?

"I'm not blind, Amane. I've seen the way you two look at each other. He'd do anything for you," Duke comments. "It's freaky weird and stuff, but it's your business and I don't really want to get involved in that."

"Then what do you want?" She frowns.

"I need some advice," he blurts out. Duke tells her that his parents want him to break up with Serenity.

"Why? She's the sweetest girl on the freaking planet. What problem could they have with her?" Amane, confused as hell, asks him.

"They did a background check on her when they found out we were dating," he admits. "They hired some guy to practically stalk her for a month and then run her financials. They're convinced that she's only with me for my money."

"That's the stupidest thing I've heard in my entire life," she's outraged, completely and utterly outraged. "Serenity's never even asked me for fifty cents to get something from a vending machine before. Hell, when I paid for her clothes for Saturday, Tea had to steal her wallet to keep her from trying to do it herself."

"I know, but they don't see it like that. They never liked my decision to attend a public school - they keep saying that now that I've had my fun with 'commoners' I should go back to the family business. They made their millions running a company that sugar plantations in the Caribbean. They've never been down to one of their farms, so they don't care if it's practically slavery that's racking in their cash," he snaps, slamming his hand against one of the posts that hold up the bleachers. Amane had never asked how the Devlin family got so rich, but now she's not sure if she wanted to know.

"Serenity is my life," he tells her. "I want to marry her one day. I want to have kids with her, I want to raise them with her, I want to live with her for the rest of my life. And when I'm dead and gone, I want to be buried next to her. But if I choose her, then my family will want nothing to do with me. I've seen it before. They disowned my cousin because he wanted to run off with his mistress instead of living with the wife they chose for him."

"They have a problem with her because she doesn't have money?" This seemed absolutely ridiculous.

"Well, that and they think she's going to turn out like her parents," he explains. "You do know about them, right?"

Amane shakes her head. All she knows is that Joseph Wheeler is a single father that works as a mechanic. Other than that, she knows nothing.

"Her dad's a former alcoholic and he sent a few months in jail for trespassing a couple years before Joey was born," Duke tells her. "Their mom got pregnant with him when she was sixteen and is a crack addict. She left their father after Serenity got diagnosed with her eye problem. The private investigator found her working the streets in Brooklyn as a prostitute."

"So what you're saying is that your parents think that Serenity is going to whore herself to you for money to buy drugs and alcohol?" Amane shakes her head, disbelieving, "Do you believe that there's any merit to what they're saying?"

"Of course not! Why would I?" Duke looks livid at the thought that she would even suggest such a thing.

"Good, because at the end of the day, it's what you think that counts. Now I don't know what your parents are smoking that they believe any of that crap that you just told me," Amane still can't wrap her own head around the idea, "but they obviously don't know shit. You love Serenity, you really do, but they don't get that and they probably never will. So you're going to have to make a choice and it's going to be between them and her."

"But which one? What do I do, Amane? I've got no clue where to go from here," he begs her for answers that she doesn't have.

"I don't know, Duke. I really don't. But you've got to make that decision and you've got to do it soon because I'm not always going to be around to help you out. Why did you come to me anyways?" She asks.

"Because you've had to make a choice like that," he looks down at the ground. "Between your brother and your parents."

Duke is both right and wrong at the same time. Amane has chosen Ryou over her parents. She's going to run at the end of the year and leave this life behind her. She's not going to look back and she's going to fight beside her brother all the way to the end of this bitter war against the Orichalcos. Duke thinks that she's chosen to be with Ryou over whatever their parents think is a respectable match for her and that's the only part of his theory where he's wrong.

"You've got to make that choice for yourself," she tells him again, starting to walk back to the school. Duke follows along behind, but asks one more question.

"Amane, are you going somewhere after graduation?"

"Yes, Duke," she tells him straight up. "Yes, I am. After we graduate, you're probably not going to see me for a very long time."

"Where are you going?"

Amane pauses, thinking of what is best to tell him. When she comes up with an answer, she tells him, "I made a choice. And I'm going to follow the path that that choice has set out for me."

* * *

><p><strong>Hello everyone.<strong>

**I'd like to thank those who reviewed for the last chapter: ilovemanicures and xXAnarchronIsmEpsIceXx.**

**It is official: Magic and Amane are together-together now. They will be for the rest of The Abnormal as well as the rest of The Others series. However, one must remember that Amane has and will always love Ryou, despite her relationship with Magic. Nothing is going to change that.**

**Something has been on my mind lately. I'm sure you've all heard of the charity that LittleKuribo is going for Dan Green and his family. I'm not going to try to convince you to donate (if you can that's great; if not, that's fine too), but I think that it is absolutely amazing that someone has organized this for the man. When I tell people that I write fanfiction for Yugioh, I sometimes get laughed at because people think that anime is stupid or that Yugioh is just about a children's card game. It's not.**

**It is a tale that taught me about what it really means to be a true friend, showed me just how far one can go to protect their family, and gave me an insight into the depths of the human soul. I woke up early every Saturday morning so that I could watch Yugioh when I was young and it was because of Dan Green that I was able to do that. It is because of Dan that I got interested in Yugioh and made me start to write.**

**It's because of him that I was able to meet all of you.**

**And when ever I receive an email from , telling me that someone favourited one of my stories or put me on author alert or wrote me a review, I smile. Because I know that Yugioh is so much more than just a card game. It's a community of people across the globe that I am apart of. People from all over the world have touched my life, just as I've reached out and touched theirs.**

**So when I see that LittleKuribo has set up a charity for Dan Green, I know that someday his children are going to find that video he posted asking for help. And then they too will realize what Yugioh is and what they are apart of: one giant family.**

**Until next time, my friends,**

**AlcatrazOutpatient**


	10. The Girl and the Idiot

**The Abnormal: Amane's Tale**  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Yu-gi-oh! Duel Monsters is owned by Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, and TV Tokyo. All names were changed to the characters of this fandom in order to protect the real people involved in the following incidents.

* * *

><p><strong>Part 10: The Girl and the Idiot<strong>

When Amane visits Magic on the Saturday before Ryou is expected to come home, he isn't in his workroom. An orange ball of fuzz named Sangan leads her to him by a very green, scaly arm.

"Over here, My Lady," he bows (somehow) as she sees Magic's form appears, sitting at the edge of a forest. Amane thanks Sangan with a smile and approaches the man she now calls lover.

It's a bit strange. Had he been any other person, she would think that the word 'boyfriend' to describe him. But then again, Magic isn't any other person – he's Magic. Lover sounds more appropriate for him.

"Hey," she calls to him as she gets closer. He turns, somehow avoiding smudging dirt all over his white clothes. He waves to her as she sits down beside him, leaning against his shoulder. "Whatcha doing over here?"

"**This is the Forest of Pojar,"** he tells her. **"It used to be the sacred burial ground for the Ancient Ones. After the Fall of Mu, we brought it here."**

"Who or what was Pojar?" She asks.

"**He was supposedly the first Ancient. We didn't know him. He was long before our time. Supposedly he is buried in there, but we've never found the grave,"** Magic shrugs. She can feel his eyes on her, **"Is there any specific reason for the visit or are we just getting lucky, spending time with you?"**

Amane rolls her eyes, smiling the entire time, "You're getting lucky."

"**Good. We need a bit of luck right now,"** he sighs and pulls her closer to him.

"Something is going to happen soon, isn't it? Something big," she can just tell by the way that he is acting.

"**Yes."**

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

He hesitates and then grips her tightly, as if afraid to lose her, **"Please don't die."**

* * *

><p>Ryou comes bursting through the front door and tears up the stairs in a mad hurry to get to her room. Amane is in the middle of a complicated hack that may or may not set off a small nuclear reactor in China if things go wrong. She manages to save it after she kicks Ryou off of her and he stops shouting in her ear.<p>

"Damn it, Ryou! You almost made me irradiate a village! Don't ever do that when I'm on my computer!" She yells at him.

"White eyes – imposter – there was something here, but where? Are you hurt? Did he hurt you?" Ryou looks around the room frantically.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Amane throws her pillow at him. He catches it before it hits him.

"Serenity, she showed me pictures. There was someone here, pretending to be me. A Shape Changer or something a Creator made," he panics. "It wasn't me, Amane. I swear it wasn't. Whatever he did, please, it wasn't me. You've got…to…believe me – why are you laughing?"

She can't help it. After everything that she'd come to terms with when it came to the pair of them, here was Ryou saying the exact same thing that she'd been telling herself: that he and Magic weren't the same people. He was begging her to understand that, even though she already did.

"You idiot," Amane tries to suppress her giggles as she steps forward and gives him a hug. "I'm so glad that you're home."

Ryou's warm to the touch, his heart beating in a steady pattern just below this skin. She can feel the familiar love for him humming through her body as he wraps his arms around her, trying to tell himself that she's fine, that she's alive. It does nothing to bring him out of his battle-ready high, bit its enough for her.

"You're not hurt, are you?" He asks again.

"No," she pulls back just enough so that she can see his face. There are red eyes there, bright and burning with the fire that resides within his soul – his shattered soul. The Shattered Soul. The second immortal.

But to her, he will always be her Ryou.

* * *

><p>It literally takes Amane a whole day to calm him down and even then Ryou seems to be on constant alert for any sort of attack. She tries to tell him that its fine, really, he's just over reacting.<p>

Prom is just around the corner and if Amane was a betting girl, she'd but down twenty that that move lands Duke the Cradle Robber award for the youngest date. Serenity is only in tenth grade, just barely sixteen. The girl says that its proof that age means nothing when two people like (Amane hears a hint of 'love' in those words) each other.

She laughs a bit because Magic has to be several thousand years older than her and they love each other. She knows if they went to prom if he win that award hands down.

Ryou is a little uneasy about the whole thing. She laughs at him a little. He can take down monsters disguised as men and summon creatures from an alternate universe, but the idea of attending prom is something that makes him get weak knees.

She tells him that she'll make sure he doesn't get too drunk, but then Ryou informs her that he gets really sick whenever he drinks. Amane feels a little better about her utter lack of alcohol tolerance know that, but wonders if it is a coincidence that they both can barely touch the stuff without feeling its effects. She remembers how Magic had been unable to contact her the night that…Keith happened. Maybe she should be considering becoming sober long-term.

Tea is still bugging her about her mystery boys: the one that she's with and the one that coming with her to prom. Amane is still as evasive as ever about it, trying to make her understand that she _really_ doesn't want to talk about it. And then suddenly Tea comes up to her with a very serious look on her face.

"Amane, you're going to prom with your brother."

She actually spits out her drink.

"How – when? Why do you know this?" She stares at her best friend like she's never seen her before.

"Long story. But the thing you have to know is that _everyone knows_," Tea stresses.

"What?"

"It somehow got out! I don't know how – believe me, if I knew this I wouldn't tell a soul – but Joey's gone insane," she pulls Amane down the hall and around the corner. Her heart stops momentarily when she sees a familiar ring of students.

"Nonono, this is bad," she runs towards the centre, pushing people out of the way in her hurry. One of the people that she comes in contact with looks at her in disgust.

"Ew! Don't touch me, you sicko!" The girl squirms away like she's is covered in warts. Amane jerks her hand back in surprise. Then she feels someone grab her arm and pull her to the side.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here?" Duke hisses, "You're only going to make things worse for him! Bakura's taking on the whole football team because of you two."

"The whole…oh god, no. They'll be killed," she gasps, trying to run back into the crowd but Duke stops her again.

"Don't you mean he'll be killed?"

"Duke, let me go. I have to stop this before Bakura gets too serious," she cries again.

"Before he _what_? Amane, there's like twenty guys on that team. How could he possibly take them all? They'll tear him apart," he tries to talk sense into her, but that was impossible. Ryou would toy with them for a while, but if Joey or one of the others said the wrong thing, who knows how he would react.

He was no longer the kid that the team could beat black and blue whenever they felt like it. Ryou is an Other trained in Combat magic. He could take on all twenty of them and probably walk away without a scratch on him.

She had to stop this. Now, before it was too late.

Amane forced her way through the crowds, this time getting as far as the inner most circle before Duke stopped her again. She becomes incredibly annoyed with him, trying to hold her back, so she bits him in the arm until she draws blood. He yelps and tears his arm away. She uses that to get around him and enter the arena.

She sees Joey first. He's behind the other players, preparing to rush Ryou. Amane's eyes narrow and she runs towards him, screaming bloody murder and –

Something hits her in the jaw. She doesn't know what it is, but it felt like a shovel of some kind. Amane senses _danger_ and _bad_ and _get away now_ and is surrounded by darkness.

When she opens her eyes again, she sees a familiar face surrounded by white hair. But her vision hasn't cleared enough that she can tell who's who.

"Hey," comes the voice and it is singular, not the thousand million voices that should at the same time when Magic speaks. "How are you feeling?"

"Terrible. Ryou? Is that you?" Amane asks.

"Yeah, its me."

"Can't tell sometimes. You look the same," she tells him. Ryou asks if she can stand. She thinks that she can and he supports her as her vision starts to spin.

Someone from the crowd yells, "What the fuck was that? You were holding back the entire time!"

Amane looks around the arena at that moment. There are fifteen football players cowering on the sidelines, looking in at the devastation that was in the middle. Five bodies moan and twitch on the floor. One of them was Joey and he lies in the middle of several downed people. It looks like he was thrown into them.

Ryou threatens the entire freaking school that if they have a problem with either of them, they will meet the same fate as their fallen football team. Then he mentions something else, but Amane doesn't catch it because her head is throbbing really badly. Joey has one hell of a punch.

He walks her to her locker, opening it as she sits down on the floor and holds her head. Amane doesn't even want to know how long he's known her combination as he pulls her bag and jacket from the inside. Ryou helps her with the sleeves as she complains that she can do it herself and that they probably shouldn't be skipping so early in the day.

He mumbles that the world can go fuck itself; he's not staying another moment in this school because if he does, he's going to do something stupid.

Ryou is pissed – really pissed. His jaw shuts itself so tightly that a crowbar couldn't have pried it open. He doesn't say a word as they get onto the bus. Amane leans against him, curling her arms around his.

"We're not," he finally grinds out. When she blearily looks up at him, he continues, "We're not together. Why do they always think…?"

Because they see the way she looks at him. Because they see the way that he looks at her, but they mistranslate that for the love that she shows him.

"I don't know," she mutters. And then he drops a bombshell.

"Even if we were, it's none of their business. Why should they care what two people who like each other do? Its none of their business."

Amane wonders if her attraction to Ryou is completely one sided. She never asks, though. At this point, even if it is, she doesn't want to know.

* * *

><p>She tells Ryou about her plans to move out after graduation, but she doesn't tell him the real reason as to why she wants to. Amane doesn't know how he'll react to her wanting to run away. However, he looks over the apartments that she picked out in newspaper before hand.<p>

One of her possible future landladies asks her if Ryou is her boyfriend. Amane says that he isn't and that she's already got one. The woman seems to approve of that fact, snubbing her nose in his general direction. Amane tries not to punch her in the face. Instead, she crosses that location off her list in permanent black marker.

When she comes home, she flips open her laptop and does her daily check of what her parents have been doing on the Internet. There's nothing outrageously interesting, though Amane does see that her father has been looking up the venue that her prom will be at. She doesn't think too much about it, assuming that he's simply looking up the address so that he knows where to pick her up if she needs a ride home.

Just as she decides to go back to her hack on the White House security cameras (they'd recently started to transmit the signal wirelessly, those amateurs), Ryou comes into her room looking paler than he usually does. He sits on her bed and slumps over himself. Incredibly worried, Amane nearly shuts down her computer to go talk with him. He tells her not to, though.

"Whatever you're doing, don't stop. I just want to sit here for a little bit," Ryou stares down at his hands. She notices the Pepsi can that is held there.

She shuts it down anyways. The White House can wait. Amane tells him that he's more important, moving over to where he is sitting.

"Mom found my baby clothes. She _reacted_ to my baby clothes," he continues to stare at the Pepsi can.

Immediately, Amane thinks the worst, "She didn't throw them out, did she?"

"No. I don't know what happened. She just reacted. I think that she felt regret," the simple joy that is in Ryou's voice at the idea that his own mother paying attention to something he used to wear is just too much. For either of them for that matter.

Neither of them cries, but they refuse to leave each other's presence. Ryou sleeps in her room that night, her body curled around his protectively.

When they show up together at school, all those in the immediate vicinity stop to stare at them. Amane recognizes the girl that was in the crowd the day of the fight, a pudgy brunette that follows Duke around like a hopeless little duckling, waiting for him to 'wake up' and break up with Serenity. She grabs Ryou's hand and flips the girl off.

Ryou just laughs as they begin to walk towards his locker, his middle finger joining hers in the air.

* * *

><p>Amane drags Ryou to the hospital to heal Joey after Serenity calls her in tears. The sixteen year old tells her in many almost disjointed sentences about how Duke's parents are trying to force him to break up with her and that her brother's hospital bills are going to force them out of their apartment and that she just can't handle things anymore – that she just wants God to give her family one more little miracle, no matter how selfish she thinks she is for asking this of him again.<p>

But God is busy preparing for an upcoming battle (Amane checks with him herself). So she brings the next best thing.

As she and Serenity walk back to Joey's room after getting coffee, there is a large crowd in front of the door. Doctors are trying to push them all back. It is only because Serenity tells them that her brother is inside that they let her through.

Amane then finds out that, for some inadequately explored reason, Ryou jumped out the window after healing Joey.

She runs home, thinking that he's probably somewhere in his room, curled up under his desk and hiding. Instead, she finds him on their front porch, looking a little sheepish.

"I dropped my keys in the fall," he scratches the side of his head.

"You idiot," Amane punches him lightly in the shoulder before letting him in. "Next time you decide to jump out of a building, make sure you can get back home."

"Yes dear," Ryou rolls his eyes as he walks in after her. She punches him again because he really is sometimes. But she doubts that she'd have him any other way.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello to you all!<strong>

**I'd like to thank ilovemanicures for her review on the last chapter. Continue to be awesome, my friend!**

**The Abnormal is probably going to end within the next two or three chapters, so I'm going to start to wrap it up. After that, I'm going to move onto Resurrection, which is the tale of the six spirits that live in Ryou Bakura's head. I can't wait to write the entire final battle scene of The First Year from Amane's point of view. It's going to be pretty awesome, having her wield a gun.**

**Until then,**

**AlcatrazOutpatient**


	11. The Girl and the Rabid Bear

**The Abnormal: Amane's Tale**

**Disclaimer:** Yu-gi-oh! Duel Monsters is owned by Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, and TV Tokyo. All names were changed to the characters of this fandom in order to protect the real people involved in the following incidents.

* * *

><p><strong>Part 11: The Girl and The Rabid Bear<strong>

Amane is seventeen years old and wonders how the hell her life had changed so much in the last few months. March 2nd, 2017 is the day that changed her entire life. It was on that day that she had been shown the way the world truly was. It was on that day that she discovered the truth.

March 2nd, 2017 is a day that will forever be seared into her mind because it was the day she finally understood Ryou and Magic for who they really were.

Another day that will forever be with her was only a few weeks ago when she and Magic finally got together. Amane has never had this feeling before with her past boyfriends, but with Magic – with her lover – she somehow knows that she's going to spend the rest of her life with that man.

It's the night before prom when she visits him again. He's been insanely busy the last few days, rushing around his castle with his Shadow Creatures. Occasionally, Magic asks for her opinion on things like, **"If you were to get a bunch of people out of a building that it set to blow up, what would you do?"** She tells him that she would use a bunch of trucks to load people into and get them out quickly. He thanks her and quickly moves on to organizing a lift for several people.

Today she finds him pacing his workroom, looking incredibly stressed. Magic mutters to himself as he walks, but stops as suddenly as it starts.

"**Amane,"** his voice is raw and shaken. A wave of concern rolls over her, **"We can't lose this many people. We can't, not unless we go down ourselves."**

Her eyes widen, "You're going to fight?"

"**Yes. We're going to fight. We can't sit around any longer,"** he is frustrated and jittery, his fists clenched so hard that his hands shake.

"Are you scared to fight?" Amane asks.

"**We cannot be scared. We are incapable of feeling fear,"** Magic growls, then grimaces. Amane steps forward and lays a hand on his arm. He leans into her touch, looking over at her. She can see the worry in his eyes.

"**Yes. We are scared,"** he finally admits. **"But not for us. For them. We can try to save them all, but realistically…some are going to die before their time."**

His other hand snakes around, pulling her into an embrace. For once, Amane feels like she's the one protecting him, like she's shielding him from all the chaos and evil in the world.

His mouth finds hers and he's kissing her like he's dying (and he is, a small voice reminds her). Her hands cling to her his shirt while his are lost in her hair. When he pulls back, Magic groans and hides his face in her neck.

"**You are the most beautiful person we've ever known,"** his lips graze her skin as he speaks. Amane rubs her hands up and down his back, trying to sooth his shaken nerves.

"I'm not going to lie to you and say that everything is going to be alright, because its not," she tells him. "But…there's going to be an after, right?"

"**Yes."**

"Then focus on that. Focus on getting through this so that you can see the after. See the later," Amane steps back to look at him. "You're stronger than I think you give yourself credit for. Remember what you told me the first time I came here?"

"**There were a lot of things that we said. Care to be more specific?"** Magic tilts his head to the side in inquiry.

"You said that you weren't going to die in two years, that you were going to make it so that you would live. What happened to the man who told me that, huh? What happened to him?"

He stares at her in awe for a few seconds before a look of pure determination came over his face. Magic looks like he would be laughing, if he were capable of laughing at all.

"**We're being a moron again, aren't we?"**

"Yes," she swats him over the head. "Now are you going to stand here and mope or are you going to get make sure you live to see 2020?"

She's smiling at him a little when she says that. He touches her lips with his thumb, contemplating something.

"**We'll make you a promise, Amane,"** he stares at her intently, eyes constantly shifting colours. **"After the war is done, the first thing that we're going to do is smile for you. Smile and feel joy and tell you that we love you and be able to mean it. We promise you that."**

"Good," Amane grins wildly and shoves him playfully, so that he sits on the edge of his desk. Though a little bewildered at her sudden actions, Magic catches on very quickly as she climbs onto him and straddles his waist. He can't keep his hands off of her. She wonders for a few seconds as to whether he's got a thing for her being on his desk. She also wonders if she could somehow get her hands on some handcuffs.

She wonders how he'd react to that. But judging by his reaction when she slides off his lap and kneels on the floor between his legs, Amane thinks he'd be up for anything as long as it was with her.

* * *

><p>Prom is supposed to be the best night of a girl's high school life. She goes out and gets her hair done, splurges on a manicure and pedicure at a local spa, and then wears the most elegant dress that she can find to a dance with the one person that she's wanted to be with for the last four years.<p>

Prom is not supposed to be this.

Amane wakes up underneath the DJ booth after falling unconscious when the shooting started. The man is slumped over the turntable. He's not breathing and there's a red stain on the back of his shirt. He's dead. Dead and gone.

She realizes that the room is completely silent, with the only exception being two voices. Two very familiar voices.

"So you admit it. You know Yugi Mutuo," her father's voice makes her blood run cold.

Ryou's voice brings her heart to a complete and utter halt, "Her name is Atem."

Amane's mind, on the other hand, kicks into complete overdrive analyzing everything that she's seen since learning about the Orichalcos. Magic had wanted her to take Ryou to prom. The raid that her father had been hinting at. The fact that he looked up this very location. How Magic had told her outright that he was planning for a battle.

This battle. Oh god.

As she hears the sound of a gun clicking – "you are resisting arrest" – Amane grabs the first thing that she can find and then hikes up her dress to grab her switchblade that she taped to her leg in the case that something would happen.

And something did.

Shut up. Shut up and concentrate. That's not important, this is.

She throws the thing in her hand at her father – no, that's not her father. Amane's father died the moment he walked into this building with a bomb and held a gun to Ryou's head. No, now the man's is just Andrew. He's not even a Bakura to her anymore. That name belongs to Ryou more than it does him.

The microphone hits Andrew in the head and it makes him turn around to face her. Amane holds her knife in front of her and gets as close as she can to Ryou, even if it means that she has to put herself between that gun and his body. She'd rather die than have anything happen to him.

Amane tells Andrew everything, if only to freak him out that it was not just Ryou that was hiding things from him. The look on his face is priceless, either way. Shock drains the blood right out of his skin when Amane says the world 'Orichalcos' and admits to having known about Atem. The man thinks that Ryou has put a spell on her or something. He couldn't be more wrong.

She loves Ryou. Of course she's going to stand beside him. Unlike this monster who's thrown everything away in order to get a power that was designed to kill Magic and all other forms of life. The Beast. The Orichalcos. The man may have provides a few chromosomes that resulted in her creation, but if he even thinks about pulling that trigger, Amane is going to shove her switchblade into his jugular.

Then Ryou starts to trace numbers that count down into her palm and she quickly looks up at ceiling. Atem the Immortal has a bow out and is loading a single arrow into it as Ryou starts to speak.

"I didn't need to do anything to my sister because that was what we were made to do. Stand by each other. Until death do we part."

He hits one and an arrow goes right through one of the men that stand behind Andrew. Atem jumps to the ground with all the grace of a bird of prey and knees another one in the face. She yells to the students to get out of the building. Ryou opens his mouth and starts to breathe fire.

The side of Andrew's face is set alight, but she doesn't really care because the wall just exploded and there are two people coming in – two people that she'd only ever seen on television before: Seto and Mokuba Kaiba, the leaders of the Resistance.

She turns to Ryou, who had his knife out and was preparing to face down Andrew. Amane remembers for a second that their mother is still waiting at home and asks him not to kill the man, if only for her sake.

And then she's gone, hauling ass towards where she knows that Tea and the others were hiding. Amane pulls at a babbling Miho, urging them all to get in the trucks because if they don't everyone's going to die and –

"Tristan's dead," Duke tells her, his voice like nothing that she's ever heard before. There's tear tracks that run down through the dirt that has matted itself to his face. Amane doesn't look down to where she knows she will see the boy's body. She can't because if she does she'll collapse.

"We have to move, please," she begs them. Serenity's knees quack through her dress as she gets to her feet. The others follow behind (though Amane has to drag Joey away from Tristan) as they make their way to the trucks that she knows are there, only looking back once to check on Ryou. She sees him toss his knife into a man's skull.

Amane refuses to let herself be distracted by his willingness to kill now.

It takes the combined effort of her, Duke, and Serenity to pull Joey into one of the get-away trucks and even then he nearly escapes the moment the moment after. As Amane drags the football player back inside, she spies Ryou rushing out of the building and heading towards their truck.

Atem is two seconds behind him and grabs his hand before he can get in, asking if he'll man this one and points out that there are guns inside. Amane looks under the seat were Miho is sitting and spots a lumpy duffle bag. Then she looks back at Ryou and Atem and sees that they're kissing.

It hits her with the full force of a freight train that they really like each other. Ryou is kissing Atem. And she is kissing him back.

Amane thinks that she should feel at least somewhat glad for the two of them, finding happiness in each other. But she can't. After everything that has happened, she can't because she still thinks that it's unfair. She got there first, damn it. Or did she? Amane doesn't know anymore. Ryou's long life is something that she can't really properly stick on a time line.

When the two pull apart, Ryou is grinning so hard that his face must hurt. Atem practically orders him not to die and he jokingly says that, after that, he sure as hell isn't going to do that. She then hops onto the back of a Shadow Creature that Amane doesn't recognize and gallops away.

The door slam shut and Joey jumps up and grabs Ryou by the neck, "You did this! You got Tristan killed! This is all your fault!"

The driver turns around and yells at Joey, then addresses Ryou and orders him to make the fire go away. He approaches the open doors as Duke asks him what's happening. His red eyes are as old and tired as she's ever seen them.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry," Ryou apologies, explaining that they've been dragged into the Orichalcos war and that they'd better hold onto something because things are going to get messy. Then he trades some banter with Chazz for a little bit before settling down to do his job.

"I need you to brace me so I don't fall," he asks Amane and Tea as he stood in the open entranceway. She sees flowers and wet earth as Ryou collects his magic. The bomb goes off in the distance, the flames so hot that they are stark white against the night sky.

But something is wrong with the sky…

Suddenly, flames surround the entire vehicle. The temperature skyrocketed, the heat from the outside making the metal truck an oven. But none of it touches the insides and Amane silently thanks Ryou for making sure that they were not all roasted to death.

The driver has to pull over, though, because the engine is shot after that and they will have to walk the rest of the way. He crawls into the back and unzips the duffle bag.

"Listen up, brats, I haven't got time for complaints. Girls, if you've got heals on, chuck em'. We can't have you slowing us up because you can't run," Amane is already reaching down and removing her shoes when he says that. It doesn't matter how much they cost when her life is in danger. Then he starts to pass out the guns, "Everyone's getting a crash course on how to operate a gun right now. Remove the safety and point it at anything that looks like it's going to kill you. Pull the trigger."

The AK-47 feels almost natural in her hands – too natural. But then again, she made the decision to become soldier a long time ago. Maybe it should be.

Joey tries to kill them again and Amane just snaps at him to stop it. He's not helping anyone by being an idiot. Tea asks why Ryou's not getting a gun, but then he pulls a freaking katana out of nowhere and that answers any questions about his choice in weaponry.

Of course, it only triples the amount of questions about what the fuck is going on that explode into their minds.

They hop out of the truck and Amane nearly trips over the long skirts of her dress. She ties it up around her waist out of the way. In the struggle, she realizes that she dropped her knife as Ryou starts to explain who he is.

Apparently he's taking too long, so the driver – Chazz, she remembers vaguely – shouts at him to just get the point, spilling the secret that Ryou had been keeping since October.

At first, no one believes him. But then his eyes start to glow a steady red with no iris, no pupil, not sclera. His eternal power has overflowed and taken over his eyes.

"Listen, I get it. You're torn up about Tristan. We all are. But if you keep yammering like this, you're gonna end up making us all join him," Ryou growled and then sighed as his red returned to normal. "Joey, I'll make you a deal. There's this thing I can do – you saw a bit of it in October in the graveyard. I can help you talk to Tristan again, but I can only do it when we're not on the run for our lives. Just come on, get up. We need your help right now."

After he tells Joey that, if he is taken down, the jock needs to step up to the plate as the heavy hitter, Chazz yells at him to start sensing the area around them for dangers. Ryou can't do that, so instead he takes to the roofs with a display of Combat magic that leaves even Amane's head spinning.

Well, it wasn't every day after all that you see someone leap three stories in the air.

He says that its clear and they start moving in silence. The pavement is rough under her feet and Amane hopes that they aren't cut up by the time that this is over. She also swears that she's going to start going to the gym more often to build up her cardio. Maybe take up a martial art – a self-defense class at the very least.

Chazz calls for them to come to a halt when Miho starts to wheeze. Ryou lands beside Amane, rolling as he hits the concrete and getting to his feet in a single movement. He's got the grace of a gymnast when he's like this.

She takes another glance at the sky while she's looking up. There's something webbed across it, like a dome of sticky green strands. Amane frowns as a shadow shifts just beyond it, slamming at it as symbols seemed to explode out of nowhere in the sky.

She wonders were Magic is. She knows that he was planning to come down himself, so where the hell is he?

Chazz steals Ryou and Amane walks over to her friends as they huddle in the back of the conviencance store that they broke into for shelter. As she sits down, Tea offers her a water bottle.

"How long have you known about him?" Duke whispers and nods at Ryou, who's talking with the driver.

"I've always known he was different, but I've only really known for a few months," she explains.

"He said that there was more like him. Are there?" He asks again. Amane nods in confirmation.

"Not many, but Others are a very real part of our population. Magic exists and he's got it in spades," she smiles proudly at Ryou, honoured to know someone as powerful and important as him. He's going to change the world and she's going to right there beside him the entire time.

Amane figures that he'll do a better job at explaining things, so she goes over to Chazz and asks to borrow Ryou for a moment. When she brings him over, no one even looks in his direction. She sighs.

It takes a while, but they finally open up to him. Ryou is surprisingly calm, with the one exception of when Serenity asks if Atem is his girlfriend. That sends him into a series of embarrassed stutters that make him seem too young to have a katana hanging from his belt.

Then he does from young to old when he answers Joey's inquiries about whether or not he would be able to bring back someone from the dead. Amane adds her two cents, telling him that she knows he's an immortal as well.

Surprisingly enough, he doesn't seem to know this fact, or that his soul has been broken into pieces. Joey doesn't like the news that he's not going to see Tristan again, spitting at Ryou and asking what good is he then.

"I'm what you've got," he returns, not angrily but in a way that makes Amane think of battle-hardened soldiers. "I'm going to get you all out of this, I promise. No matter what I have to do. I got you into this war, so it's my job to get you out."

Amane just hopes to hell that it doesn't involve him dying.

* * *

><p>Amane once admitted to herself that Atem was beautiful, all power and strength hidden within her tiny body. She knows that The Immortal was royalty, back in the day and maybe she gets that beauty from that. But Ryou…Ryou is something completely different.<p>

They're both animals when they fight. But while Atem is an eagle or a tiger in mid-strike, Ryou in combat is the equivalent to a rabid grizzly bear that hasn't eaten anything in a week. He's a crude fighter, but he's damn effective at what he does. He's not fancy or elegant. He just gets the job done and moves on the to next target.

As Chazz leads them around the street corner to safety (away from Ryou and his battle), Duke turns to her and says, "Now I know what you meant when you said that he could take on the entire football team."

"Yeah," Amane smiles, but there is no humour to it.

"Holy shit!" Chazz swears as the ground starts to shake. Something absolutely huge smashes its way out of a building and starts heading straight towards them.

"Open fire!" He yells and starts to shoot towards the thing. It just keeps coming, ignoring the fact that bullets are riddling its torso. Amane grabs the person closest to her and runs to the side as the thing smashes into Chazz and throws the man almost ten feet in the air.

When the dust clears, Amane gets a better look at the thing. It's a monster, but unlike any Shadow Creature that she's seen in Magic's castle. It's wrong and disgusting, with empty eyes and a gapping, hungry mouth. It roars to the sky as Chazz comes plummeting down, hitting the ground with a mundane thud.

"Joey! Check to make sure he's all right! Amane and Tea, take the left side. Miho, get behind it. I'll get in front of it and Serenity, make sure it doesn't get through to your brother," surprisingly, it is Duke who takes control of the situation. "We keep shooting and we don't stop for anything!"

As little Miho starts to shakily move to where Duke's positioned her, Amane grabs her gun and removes the safety, pulling the trigger and does her best imitation of Ryou's war cry. It's enough to attract the things attention away from the fallen Chazz and Joey. As it turns its ugly head to her, drooling the entire time, Miho takes a shot at its head. The bullet rips right through its skull and comes out the other side.

And the thing doesn't stop moving at all. In fact, it only seems to get more pissed off. Its movements are slow and sluggish, like a zombie from an apocalypse movie (oh god, don't think about those now), but then it throws a car wheel at Serenity, knocking her down. Duke swears and takes out its knees. It doesn't do much good, because they just heal seconds later.

The thing pick up a car and turns towards Miho. It throws her at her, but a blur rushes passed Amane and saves the girl from almost certain death. She doesn't have time to rejoice over the face that Ryou is back with them, alive and well. She has to concentrate on surviving against this thing.

As Ryou makes a dash towards Duke, stabbing the thing in the arm with his sword, Amane takes over for where Serenity was before. But then Ryou's plan goes wrong and the sword stays in the thing as it thrashed in pain, taking him with it as he refused to let go. She nods at Tea and the two of them distract it, firing at it to cover his escape.

Ryou is beside them in an instant, "Thanks for the save."

"No problem," Amane says in return.

He wants to know where Chazz is. Tea indicates to where Joey and Serenity is. His face looses the rest of its colour as he panics.

"He's not dead. Though he'll be if we don't get him out of here soon. He's lost a lot of blood," Duke tells him.

Ryou looks at the thing like he's analyzing it while his brain is running five hundred miles an hour. Finally he speaks, "I think I know how to beat this thing."

He's going to aim for the glowing mark on its head. The three of them promise to make sure that he doesn't get hurt and Amane thinks that it lights such a fire in him to know that he's with people that care that his speed when he takes off has very little to do with his magic.

Ryou darts around the thing like one of those annoying little gnats that just won't go away, slicing and leaping and cutting it up. Miho even manages to blow the thing's eyes out at one point to defend him. Then it looks like Ryou just gets pissed at just being the gnat and decides to become the rapid bear again. Amane gets images of her mother's front garden (which is honestly a really weird picture to get in her head at a time like this) and the earth _moves_ under her feet, forming spikes that ram through the thing's feet.

Then Ryou throws his knife and it lands straight in the middle of the glowing mark on his head. The thing shudders and then falls, crashing to the earth with a crunch. He goes over to retrieve his knife and check to see if the thing is actually dead.

It is. Amane feels a wave of utter relief wash over her and she almost collapses like Tea does. Ryou's turns towards where Chazz is lying, bleeding to death. As Serenity begs for him to do something, he starts to mutter under his breath before pulling out his phone.

"I don't thing this is the time to answer a fucking text," Joey sears beside his sister.

"It's not that," Ryou defends his motives. "My phone's got this app – hah! It still works!"

He looks almost ecstatic as he says the words "Active PORT" before putting the phone in Chazz's hand. A full second later and the driver is gone, having disappeared into black smoke.

Ryou explains how this is how he's been getting to Atlantis, through his freaking teleporting phone. But then again, she's sleeping with a teleporting God, so its not like she should be talking.

Speaking of God, where the hell is Magic? Amane remembers what he said earlier, that he was going to be here, so where the hell is he? She feels like crying. He hasn't abandoned her to this place, has he?

The shadow in the sky smashes at the green webbing once more. Amane stares at it for a few seconds before realization sets in. Oh god, that's where he was.

Magic, in his form of the burning shadow, is trapped on the other side of that barrier. He can't get in. He can't fight. But he wants to. He's smashing at the barrier and he trying to get through, but he can't. She can practically feel his desperation from here.

She can see it now, his face with the glowing eyes and mouth. Amane wants to reach for Magic, but she's too far away. All she can see his lips moving, forming her name.

"Amane, come on. Let's go," Serenity pulls her arm as she tries to keep the tears from falling. She realizes then just how tired she is. Amane's limbs feel like they're made of lead as she moves towards the cinema that Ryou is leading them into.

She makes it inside when she sees it: more flowers and she knows that Ryou's done something. When she turns around, he's on the other side of the glass doors. Except they aren't doors anymore. It's just one solid sheet of glass.

"No! No! What are you doing?" Amane yells, throwing herself at the former doors and trying to break through. What's happening? Why's he doing this? She doesn't understand. Duke tries to pull her away, but can't manage to do it entirely.

"I promised…I promised that I'd get you all out of this. The Gigas is still alive," when Ryou says that, her eyes shift over to the thing's body. It's twitching and alive, after everything that they put it through. And he's going to…oh god. "I'm not going to let you fight it again."

"No!" She screams, "Let me go, Duke! Stop it!"

"I'm so sorry," Ryou looks so pitiful, like he did all those years ago when she found him hiding under a table – the night that she left him.

"You don't have to do this. Please, just come inside. You can hide with us," tears run down her face as she begs him not to do this. He can't die. He can never die. He can't leave her like this.

"I'm not going to risk it finding you," Amane wishes that his love for her was not so obvious in his voice. It breaks her and she falls to the ground. Her whole body quakes with the realization that Ryou is going to die.

Joey is saying things, but she can't hear a word of them. Ryou's going to die. He's going to die.

And he's never going to know.

"Please, just come inside. I love you," Amane admits it. She admits it in front of everyone. She admits it in front of Magic.

His face appears as he bends down, placing his hand on the glass as if to touch her.

"I know," he says.

"No you don't," she can't have him mistake this again, not for sisterly love. "You don't realize: I love –"

"Amane. I know. I'm sorry," he doesn't mistakes it, but Amane can't understand why _he's_ apologizing. "I can't, not the way you do. But I do love. You're my sister, I have and will always love you."

He's loves her, but he's sorry at the same time. Is he sorry that he can't return it or the fact that he's leaving so soon after?

She places her hand on the opposite side of the glass, trying to touch him but can't at the same time. They are so close to each other, yet so far away.

And then he's standing, saying something to Duke.

"There should be a back entrance. Get everyone out through that and make a run for Sekhon Avenue. I'm going to buy you as much time as I can. When you get there, can you tell Atem that I…that she didn't do this. This is not her fault. And one more thing, Duke."

The boy promises him anything that he wants.

Amane looks up and sees a bit of the moonlit ghost from under the kitchen skin in him.

"Try not to make me look like too much of an asshole in my eulogy."

And then he's gone. Just gone. Amane can't see him anywhere because Tea's dragging her away from the doors. Her limbs don't seem to want to move and her mind seems to have stalled. She trips her way up the stair case and then behind the popcorn makers.

She remembers that the Mayans ate popcorn. Atem is doing to be _devastated_.

Amane's legs stop moving and she pulls out of Tea's grasp.

"Amane, what are you doing?" The girl asks.

"I'm not going any further. I can't do this any more," she whispers through her tears.

"We've got to keep moving, damn it," Duke swears. "Bakura gave us a job to do –"

"Well I don't want to do it!" She screams, "I can't, not without Ryou. I don't want to live without him."

"We have to keep moving," Duke tells her. "We _have_ to, or everything he's done –"

"What do you care about him? After everything you've done to him, what do you care? You've kicked him, you've punched him, you've tied him to a pole, you've hurt him so much! How dare you even pretend to care about him? How dare you –"

Tea slaps her across the face.

"Don't you dare assume that this isn't hard on us," her voice is shaking and Amane sees she's crying too. "Don't you dare assume that I don't want to go back there and save him myself. Don't you dare.

"I've never realized it before now, but he's touched our lives in such amazing ways," Tea continues. "He's the only reason why I'm going to college and not some preppy dance school like my mom wants me to."

"He's why I told Serenity that I loved her," Duke says.

"He got Joey out of the hospital," Serenity admits, even as her brother flinches.

"He just nice," Miho whispers. "He very nice to me."

"So don't you assume that we don't care about…about Ryou," Tea points a finger into her chest. Amane realizes that the former perfect manicure that her best friend had been sporting earlier today is practically non-existent, with only small chips of purple nail polish left. Any other day, any other situation, and Tea would have never let it get that far. But today was different.

"Then why don't we just go back?" Amane pleads.

"Because it isn't what he wants us to do," Duke's jaw is clenched and set, though his eyes show the raw pain that is inside him. "Bakura wants us to run and get out of here. To be safe."

"I don't understand. Why would he ever want to save us?" Joey shakes his head in dismay.

"Because it the last thing you think he do," Miho attempts a smile. "He always not do what people think he do."

"Yeah, he's like that," Amane remembers the moonlit ghost, the dark phantom, and the free spirit. She remembers the parts of the fallen god that actually were Ryou. She remembers everything that has happened between them.

"We can't leave him behind," Joey says as they continue to run. "We just can't."

"Well, what would you have us do, man?" Duke nearly kicks the back door of the cinema in frustration. "What do you want to fucking do?"

"Go back," he says it so simply.

"We can't do that," Duke spits, green eyes flashing. "If we do, we don't know what we'll find."

"He might be alive," Amane prays that she's right.

"He might be dead already! We could barely hold that thing off as a group. Alone, he's not going to be able to make it," his voice is as ragged as he, torn between what his duty is and what he really wants to do. "Bakura said that he's buying us time to get away. I can't let his sacrifice be in vain."

"Duke," Serenity touches his arm gently, but her words are firm and strong. "We need to go back for him. If he's alive, we need to help him."

"But what if he's dead?" Duke starts to shake.

"Then…" Serenity looks close to tears, but she doesn't let them loose. "Then we make sure that he can be buried properly. I can't stand the thought of him just lying there on the street…I just can't."

But Amane hears the words that the girl is trying to communicate silently to her boyfriend. She doesn't want someone else to end up like Tristan – someone they could have saved, but didn't. Not another person that they will never see again.

Duke mulls it over for two agonizing seconds before straightening and walking away from the door. There is no words exchanged between any of them, but the same thought is on everyone's mind.

They are going back for Ryou Bakura and they are going to bring him home in whatever state his body might be – alive and well or dead and torn to pieces.

And then the wall explodes behind them. Amane can see the hulking shape of the monster from before. There is a second form beside it, but it is too tall and bulky to be Ryou's.

"Hello there," the man's voice is slick and smooth, like his tongue is covered in oil and his words just roll off of it. Duke reacts instantly and fires a single shot at him. The bullet stops in mid-air in front of the man and falls to the ground.

"Now that was just rude. Know your place, worm," the man waves his hand in the air and Duke is sent flying into the wall. Serenity screams his name.

"I can't even see why you insects are so important to this whelp," he smirks cruelly and Amane's hands start to shake when she sees just what the thing is carrying. "Well, if the traitor wants to run around with ants, then so be it."

The thing throws Ryou to the ground in front of them. He doesn't get up.

Amane doesn't even think about it. She throws herself over his body and makes herself a shield for any more attacks against his person. Also, if this man comes anywhere near him, she'll rip his throat out with her teeth.

Tea confirms that Ryou is (somehow) still alive. But something is wrong with him. He's so broken that she wonders if he'll ever stand again.

"Of course the traitor is still alive. You useless pieces of existence mean something to him. I want him alive so he can see what I do to you," the man laughs cruelly.

Joey snaps, rushing him with a look of pure anger on his face. He yells that Tristan isn't useless, that he isn't –

The man has Joey by the neck. Joey…Joey's going to die. He's going to die, going to die, and it _hurts her head_ because all she can think of are thunderstorms and Joey is screaming at the top of his lungs and dying, oh god, Magic please! Save them! Save them, please, she'll do anything!

The man mocks Ryou and Joey at the same time, "You know this idiot that you tried to save doesn't even know your name? He keeps trying to remember, but he can't! What kind of friends do you keep, traitor? Not good ones!"

"Fuck you," Amane hears him spit those words out through bloody teeth, but she's never been so happy to hear them as she is now.

"He's trying to save you. Trying to save a faggot like you, you little liar. You hypocrite," even through the pain that feels like its going to rip her skull in two, she still realizes that 'faggot' was an odd and highly specific thing to call someone in this situation. She wonders what branch of magic lightning meant. Maybe she'd understand what was going on.

The thing beside them grabs Serenity from where she's standing and immediately Duke offers to trade his life for hers. Ryou struggles to his feet behind her.

"Leave them alone. I'm the traitor, not them. Who wants to play with worms when you've got me."

He can barely stand, swaying on his feet and holding his knife in front of him. Blood drips down from the gash on his forehead and there's a dark stain that is slowly spreading outwards on his jacket. He's bleeding and he's bleeding badly. Even if he can stand up, Ryou's not going to last much longer because he's dying.

"What's your name, traitor?" The man sneers as Ryou, who manages to stand tall.

"I am Bakura."

That name freezes the man in his tracks, "What did you say?"

He repeats his words and the man says that he's lying, that he's supposed to be dead. A smile comes onto Ryou's face and it's not one she's used to seeing. It has too many teeth, all sharp and jagged.

"Shut up! You can't be him!" The man continues to back up, suddenly scared of Ryou, who's stalking forwards like a beast on the prowl.

And then it starts. Something just seems to wrap around him, like he's drowning himself in water. His power buzzes through the air and makes her hair stand on end. Ryou's doing something, something big.

Then he starts listing names. First comes Touzoku and Amane remembers the stories that her mother used to tell about him. But then there were others, like someone named Akeifa. And then Soul Steeler, Thief King, and Game Master. They sounded more like titles than named, but they were absolutely terrifying the man. Their attacker's face had gone completely white as he shook his head in denial.

"It was Dark God, wasn't it? I don't blame you, he scares the hell out of me. Do you want to meet him?" Ryou's face is absolutely terrifying. She realizes that he's purposefully moved around her, placing himself between them and him.

"Dark God is dead! He died three hundred years ago!" The man screams in fright, "He blew himself up. There is no way that he could be alive!"

"He's alive. And he's here, with us. He can see you trembling right now at the very whisper of his name."

And then Ryou simply changes. His eyes burn a colour of red that can only be described as demonic while lines that hum with a much more dulled light appear on his skin. His hair seems to spike in every direction and it pulls itself from the tie that he used to keep it for earlier in the night (and that seemed like years ago).

The thing's arm gets torn off mid-strike, but Amane can't see what did it. All she sees are flashes of oceans in the middle of storms. It screams and clutches at its stump, blood spraying from the wound and making red puddles on the ground.

Then the air shifts around them and suddenly a massive snake surrounds them. But the tail end of it is attached to the torso of a giant grey man. And giant it was – it dwarves the thing in size, its back scraping the ceiling of the cinema's warehouse roof.

The Shadow Creature moves, its tail swigging around as Ryou (but not Ryou because that couldn't just be him) starts to run forwards. It's like he just got his second wind and spontaneously healed all of his injures. But that was impossible. He shouldn't even be moving, let alone _that_ fast. What's going on?

Then the Creature grabs the thing and picks it up like a toy. It rips the thing in two and blood flies everywhere, falling down to the earth like a twisted rainstorm from a horror movie. Amane falls backwards as the top half of the ting falls in front of her. It starts to move again, hands grasping her way and she screams –

A massive grey hand comes down and crushes the thing's head. As the Creature pulls away, it uses its power to float something very small and shiny away from the thing's corpse. The moment the tiny thing is removed from its body, the thing's body starts to rapidly decompose.

The Creature leans down to look them all in the eye.

"It's alright," it tells them in a deep, snakelike voice that is surprisingly gentle, as if the violence that it just displayed was merely a pretense. "The Gigas is not getting up this time. It can't harm you any more. Look."

The Creature holds out its hand and a small, green gemstone floats above its palm, "This is the Orichalcos. I believe that you are familiar with it, Lady Amane. You know what it does."

"Yes," she whispers, staring at the thing that has been the bane of Magic's existence for thousands of years.

The Creature breathes on it, the air suddenly turning incredibly cold. The stone freezes over and then shatters into a billion unusable pieces.

"High temperatures increase its powers. Cold temperatures decrease them. Cold days in Hell aren't exactly common, so the Orichalcos isn't used to it," the Creature continues to explain. "But now we have a more pressing problem."

When it stops speaking, the sound of tearing flesh and a maniac laughter hits her. Amane knows that something has gone terribly wrong with Ryou. She remembers Keith and how far he would go to protect someone that he cared about – her. She knows what she has to do.

"Ryou Bakura is starting to put his soul back together, but the process will be enough to drive him insane," the Creature says. "He just merged with my old Summoner and Dark God Bakura was as insane as they come."

Amane stands up and moves away from where the others are standing. Duke cries out to her, "What are you doing?"

"I was made to stand by Ryou, no matter what. So that's what I am going to do," she squares her shoulders and walks around the end of the Creatures tail.

Ryou is sitting on top of the man, hacking away at him with an axe. The lines on his skin glow faintly in the darkness, but his eyes are red pools of insanity. His white hair is as pale as his skin and his clothes are covered in blood that is both his and the man's.

Amane doesn't know how she remains calm at the sight of all of this, but she walks forwards anyways. When she gets close enough, she catches his hands mid-swing.

His head turns to her slowly, his eyes fixed on her. Ryou is looking at her, but she can tell something is very wrong with his gaze, the confused tilt of his head. He doesn't recognize her at all.

"Ryou," she calls out to him, hoping to snap him from his daze. "Stop. Please. He's gone. He's dead and gone. You've stopped him. Now please, stop."

He looks so childlike as he asks, "He's dead? Really?"

"Yes, so please, stop. The Gigas is gone, too," she remembers what the Creature called it. "Its stone is gone."

"Who am I?" It is then that she realizes that something is different about his voice. She didn't comment on it at first because she was used to someone else speaking like this. It sounds like three people are all saying the same words at once.

But he can't even remember who he is. Amane feels the tears running down her cheeks, though she refuses to acknowledge them. She has more important things to do right now than cry.

"You're Ryou," she tells him, kneeling down and pulling him into a hug. She knows that it's dangerous, but she doesn't care if he chops her to pieces. Right now, she just needs him to go back to the way that he was before, "You're my Ryou. Just let go, Ryou. Just let go, this is killing you."

His body begins to shake as the lines recede from his skin. Ryou seems to lose that hum of power that he had before.

And he starts screaming.

At first, she thinks that he's in pain, but then she sees him clawing at his mind and she realizes that this is something else entirely. As the others run up to where they are (Tea actually kicks the hunk of meat that was formerly their enemy aside in her rush), Ryou slumps and falls out of her arms.

"What happened?" Duke is the first at the scene, checking him for a pulse, for breath, for any sign of life, "God, this guy just doesn't know how to die…"

Amane's chest seizes when she sees a rib bone protruding out of his skin. Duke takes off his jacket and uses it to stop the bleeding around his injury, continually mumbling, "Oh my god."

"What do we do? He can't die! What do we do?" Serenity chants under her breath as Joey tries to remain calm. In the background, the Creature looses its hold on this realm and is sent back to Magic's castle.

"Hey, you there!" Their eyes shoot up to see someone in police uniform pointing a gun at them, ready to shoot. Amane throws herself over Ryou, prepared to die to keep him alive for a moment longer. She hears a single shot go off. A body falls to the ground.

But it's the policeman who dies. Someone – a woman – appears in a swirl of black smoke as two other people leap at the man's comrades. One of them wields a black baton with a brutal grace. Another has a pair of handguns.

The first woman runs up to them, long blonde curls barely restrained by a ponytail, "Bakura! Oh god, is that you?"

"Who the fuck are you?" Tea growls, pointing her own gun at the woman. The newcomer's purple eyes flash with annoyance.

"I'm his friend and I'm going to help him, even if I have to cut you down, so help me god," the woman growls as, behind her, the two fighters combine their powers to create a bird make of purple and green fire. Amane thinks of tornadoes when she sees this and realizes that it's an Illusion of some sort.

But that means that these people are Others and they know Ryou. Amane takes a good look at her recognizes the woman just from his descriptions of her.

"Tea, it's fine. She can help," Amane pulls her friend away from the person who could only be Mai Valentine as the woman's hands start to take on a purple glow. She places a hand on Ryou's chest and the bone starts to move back into his skin.

"Collapsed lung," she mutters. "At least half a dozen broken ribs. Bruised from head to toe. And, god, he's still alive. Come on, hun. You're not given up on me now, are you? I'll kick your ass if you do!"

"Mai!" The two fighters come rushing up to them. Amane can finally gets a good look at them. The boy looks a little older than her and would be incredibly attractive if he wasn't covered in dirt and blood. The girl is pretty and looks slightly Latino in origin.

"What happened to him?" The boy – and Amane recognizes his voice, she's heard it over the phone before: the voice of Marik Ishtar, Ryou's best friend – turns to Duke, anxious for answers.

"There was this thing – it was just there a few minutes ago – and we fought it together, but then Bakura locked us in here and said that he's deal with it alone so that we could run, but then we wanted to come back and help him, but then –"

"Stop," and the girl had to have been Mana, just had to have been. "What thing? What did it look like?"

"A monster," Serenity said hoarsely. "Big, tall, really strong. A monster."

"He called it a Gigas," Tea supplied.

"A Gigas! Holy shit! They were dealing with one on Johnson Street before we came here," Marik swore. "He took one on by himself. Where is it? How far is it from here?"

"Gone. He…it die because of him," Miho nodded to Ryou and the Others looked up, surprised.

"Bakura took one of them out all on his own?" Mana whispered in awe.

"No wonder he's like this," Mai's hands were shaking. "Shit. Shit-shit-shit, come on, damn it! I am not losing anyone else! Please! Bakura, you idiot, please just wake up – what the hell?"

Ryou's body had changed again, but this time it was different. He looked older, much older, with wrinkles on his face that could only be brought on by time. When his eyes open, they are a similar glowing red, but they are too angled, too Asian-looking, to be his.

"Don't worry. I've got this," and the voice was wrong. The accent of his English sounded like her mother after she'd spoken Japanese for long periods of time.

"Y-you're Touzoku. You're…what are you doing?" Mai questioned hesitantly.

"I'm a Healer, what do you think? Just…" and he coughed up a little blood, "don't tell Bakura-sama that I was here. He doesn't need to know. It will only just worry him and the last thing he needs is to do that."

His entire body encased itself in red fire, burning away any injures or sickness in a flash. Mai jumped backwards, ready for anything to happen, but as the flames died down, Ryou seemed to shift back to normal again.

The woman rushed back to him, hands glowing purple again. Mai checked over everything that could possibly be wrong with Ryou. When she finally stepped back, she sighed in relief.

"He's stable. He should be fine, he'll just need a lot of rest."

Amane couldn't express how much those words meant to her. Ryou was going to live. He was going to be all right. He was going to live.

"We need to get to the Safeway," Mai explained.

"I'll carry him," Duke offered. "We need you three free if something happens."

"Thanks, man. Take care of him," Marik's grin was a bit infectious. "I forgot! I'm Marik Ishtar. Bakura's my roommate at Atlantis."

"Mana Oscuro," the girl held out her hand for Amane to shake. She took at and returned the greeting.

"I'm Amane. Ryou's my –"

"You're Amane?" Her electric green eyes widening comically, "You're his sister! He talks about you a lot."

"That's me," she smiles warmly as Ryou started to drool on Duke's shoulder.

"…hiding here for year…" he mumbled, before starting to snore. It would be adorable if they weren't in the middle of a war zone.

After Mai introduces herself, Tea, Duke, and the others say their names. They begin their trek towards Sekhon Avenue, the Others encircling them protectively, and Marik explains that they came looking after Chazz showed up with Ryou's cell phone, bleeding like no tomorrow.

Their group is three blocks away from where they're supposed to meet up when another Gigas pops out of nowhere, growling and screaming, drool flying everywhere as it starts its charge towards them. Amane thinks that this time, it really is going to be the end – that there's no way that they hold off another one of these things.

And then the sky explodes.

The green web that once trapped Magic outside and away from the action shatters like it was never there. In the form of the burning shadow, he descends upon the Gigas with the power and strength of the entire human race.

It doesn't even stand a chance. The thing that will probably plague her with nightmares for the rest of her nature life is literally burned alive with Magic's freezing cold fire that constantly shifts colour – from red to black to yellow to blue to several other colours that she can't even name.

When it's over, Magic stands over the disintegrating corpse and crushes the Orichalcos stone to bits. Amane thinks that he is remembering the person that that Gigas used to be, of the soul that had been lost to the Orichalcos.

"What the hell is that thing?" Joey hisses.

"I've haven't got the faintest clue," Mai whispers in awe. "I've never seen it before."

"That's no Shadow Creature, that's for sure. And its definitely not an Other," Marik clutched his handguns for the life of him. "I don't even think that thing is human."

Magic turns towards them, eyes glowing with the power of the world, and waves, **"Its alright. We've taken care of it."**

His voice forces everyone to their knees – everyone except her, simply because she's used to it. Amane stands tall, smiling at the sight of him. Even though this form is a bit unfamiliar to her, she recognizes him and loves him, nonetheless.

"Amane, what is that? Do you know it?" Tea clasps her hands over her ears in pain.

"He's such a moron sometimes," she scoffs, on the verge of laughing at him. She cups her hands around her mouth to amplify her voice, "What are you still doing here?"

"**W-what?"** He is confused.

"You're here to fight, so get out there and fight, moron! Get out of here, you've got people to save," she yells at him. "Don't worry about us. We've got ourselves covered."

She gets the feeling that she's completely ruining his 'I'm look so cool, you want to jump my bones _right now_, you sexy thang'' moment. She also gets the feeling that she doesn't really give a shit.

He sighs at her lack of reaction and it feels like the wind is blowing around the world, **"Fine. Take care of yourselves. You are our warriors: the Shattered Soul. The Messenger, the Warrior Woman, and the Magician Girl. The Prince and the Princess. The Liar and the Foreigner. The Caregiver. And…"** he pauses, staring directly at her, **"And you. Our Amane. Make sure you don't die on us too early. We'll see you after, we promise."**

Magic hunches over and the shadows that form his body stretch and lengthen around his shoulder blades, creating jagged wings that burn like the rest of him. He flaps them a few times to get airborne and then he's in front of her, kissing her on the lips before flying off to go fight.

Amane bursts out laughing as he disappears down the street, flying faster than a bullet to reach his next target. She's still laughing when the people around her get to their feet.

"Amane?" Serenity asks, trying to make sense of everything that just happened, "Who was that?"

"God," she says simply before going back to laughing. Ryou mumbles Atem's name in his sleep, but Amane honestly doesn't mind this time.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello again!<strong>

**I'd like to thank those who reviewed for the last chapter: xXAnachronIsmEpsIceXx and ilovemanicures.**

**Wow. This is the second last chapter of the Abnormal. A few things were revealed here, like a bit of who's who on that original list of the twenty-three warriors. Hopefully for those of you who are trying to narrow down the list, it is somewhat helpful.**

**Until next time,**

**AlcatrazOutpatient**


	12. The Woman

**The Abnormal: Amane's Tale**

**Disclaimer:** Yu-gi-oh! Duel Monsters is owned by Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, and TV Tokyo. All names were changed to the characters of this fandom in order to protect the real people involved in the following incidents.

_To Ethan  
>Because you make me smile<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Part 12: The Woman<strong>

The moment they make inside the Safeway, Mai directs Duke and the comatose Ryou to the area where the Resistance has set up camp. Its somewhere between the fresh fruit and the dried kind. Amane thinks that it's a bit metaphorical: its where the people who are somewhere between life and death go.

The front door bursts open and Atem runs through. Her eyes are wide and her bare feet leave bloody footprints behind as she moves.

"Bakura? Where is he?" She spots Amane and grabs her by the shoulders, "Is he safe? Is he alright?"

"He's fine. He's sleeping right now, but he's going to be fine," she tells the Immortal. A look of complete relief washes over her face and Atem's knees give out. Amane holds her in her arms as she tries to calm herself. The two of them hug each other out of happiness that the man that they love is alive and well.

"Mother!" Mokuba sticks his head through the door, "We've got a problem! It's Kisara, she's lost it!"

Behind him, something that looks like part of a Gigas' leg is thrown into the middle of the street. There's a wailing that is immediately drowned out by a bestial growl.

As Atem rushes out, Amane follows her and watches from afar as the Immortal speeds towards a woman that stands in the road by a building. She sees the glow of silvery-blue and darkness invades the corners of her vision, but Amane refuses to black out.

The woman stalks forwards, far too calmly and far to gracefully. Her long hair flows behind her as her _claws_ scrape at the brick walls, leaving a trail of sparks in her wake.

As she gets closer, Amane spies fangs protruding from her mouth. The woman isn't smiling, but there is a strange accepting peace in her eyes like she's used to this madness. This is nothing like Dark God. This is something else.

The woman leaps forwards and guts the Gigas in front of her with her clawed hands, its intestines slipping out of its belly before being sucked back in. Amane feels the acidic feeling of vomit in the back of her throat as the knowledge of what her insides look like outside of her body is burning into her mind.

"Kisara!" Atem shouts but keeps her distance at the same time, "You need to change your focus! You need to calm down!"

The woman – Kisara – lets out another roar and the hairs on the back of Amane's neck stand up. Tea joins her outside, hands over her mouth in shock.

"God, what's happening?" She whispers.

"Kisara's a Berserker," Marik appears behind them, his eyes tired. "Ever heard of the werewolf legend?"

"Yeah," Tea's voice is hoarse as Kisara tears the Giga's head from its body and sinks her teeth into the pentagram on its forehead.

"Berserkers are what those legends are based on," he explains.

A tall figure darts forwards as the Gigas begins to disintegrate. Amane sees the ever-stern Seto Kaiba wrap his arms around Kisara. His sleeves have been burned off and half of his face is covered in black soot. He holds her back, even as she claws at his skin. His blood drips to the earth as he whispers something in her ear.

Kisara shudders and she seems to shrink, her hair falling and her eyes loosing their glow. Without the claws and the fangs she looks absolutely stunning, like a model or a movie star.

Kaiba continues to speak to her in a low, rumbling voice, rocking against her to keep her calm. Kisara looks over her shoulder at him and plants a kiss on his jaw line. A small smile graces his features.

"Well, that was weird," Marik raises an eyebrow at their display.

"I thought it was completely romantic," Tea frowned at him. "Like Beauty and the Beast, just in reverse."

"No, that's not the weird bit. Kaiba's smiling. I swear that the world's going to come to an end now," he points at the couple.

Kisara couldn't walk, so Kaiba carried her inside. He set her down gently on a chair that someone had wheeled in earlier. Then he turned and surveyed everything and everyone around him.

"Ishizu, casualty report," he barked as Kisara seemed to nod off to the side.

A woman with dark skin and darker hair popped her head around one of the screens that Ryou had disappeared behind, "We've stabilized everyone that survived, but we've lost thirteen of our people. But we can't stay here much longer, not when they know where we are."

He closed his eyes and left out a long breath, allowing himself an entire half-second to mourn. When he opened them, they were hard balls of ice.

"We need to move locations. You." His head snapped around as he addressed Amane and her friends, "We need a location that is large enough to house at least twenty injured people and forty ones that can move around."

After a few moments of glancing around at one another, Duke raised his hand. Kaiba rolled his eyes, "This isn't school, kid. If you've got something to say, say it or stand aside."

"Well…uh, you see," Duke jumped a little when Joey elbowed him in the kidney, "there's always my place."

"A house? Doesn't exactly sound large enough," Kaiba frowned.

"My last name is Devlin. Trust me, its large enough," Duke laughed nervously.

"Devlin? As in the family that runs the sugar company?"

"Yeah. Not exactly proud of it, but my parents are in charge."

Kaiba nodded, "What's the address?"

* * *

><p>Amane tries to get some sleep on one of Duke's many couches after checking in on Chazz. Lucky for them, his parent's are in Europe on a business assignment, so the Resistance only has to cast a spell on the staff that works there.<p>

She doesn't know when she fell asleep, but she knows when she woke up. Something was knocking on the window – the window on the second floor.

Amane steps over a passed out Tea who was so tired that she never made it to someplace soft to sleep. Miho is drooling on a wing back chair while Duke and Serenity are curled up together on a pull out bed. She sees Joey sitting on a chair, wide-awake but dead to the world. His shoulders are shaking, but no sound escapes from his lips.

Amane looks out the window and sees the burning shadow that is Magic, wings flapping quickly in order to keep him a float. She opens it up and he climbs inside, cracking his neck and slowly transitioning back into his true form with his changing eyes and white hair.

She throws her hands around his neck, burying her head in his shoulder because she's just realized how _scared_ she was and how much she needed him to be there. Magic holds her just as tightly and whispers apologies to her.

"**We're sorry. We should have been there sooner. We should have realized –"**

"Don't. Just…not now. Please, I just want to hold you right now," she mutters.

"**Alright."**

We had a few moments of silence, beautiful blissful silence, in which we just held each other. Amane realized that she couldn't hear his heart, but she could feel the weight of him against her. He was solid and very, very visible.

It makes her aware of the fact that one of her friends is _not_ asleep.

"What the fuck?" Joey suddenly regains his grip on reality, standing up so fast that he knocks over his chair. The loud bagging brings the others out of their light sleep.

"Huh? Ryou? Y-you're awake," Tea gets out in between a yawn. A smile graces her face and she takes a step forwards, but Duke blocks her.

"That's not him," he growls.

"What are you talking about?"

"His eyes. Look at his eyes," Duke points. "They aren't red at all."

Tea takes a hasty step back as Serenity gaps, "Who are you?"

"Amane, get away from him! That is not your brother," Duke tries to warn her.

"I know exactly who he is," Amane takes a hold of Magic's hand as he glances at the people in the room.

"No, damn it, his eyes. Look at them! He's not your –"

"Duke," Tea stops him. "She knows that that's not him. She's known for a while."

"I guess you don't need introductions, 'cause you know everyone here," she jokes with Magic. He tilts his in acknowledgement, stepping away from her and centering himself amongst the Normals in the room.

"**We're not going to disguise our voice this time, not like we did at the club,"** he says and they stagger a little under the weight of his voice. **"You all deserve to know the truth. But first, Duke Devlin, we have a question."**

He nods dumbly, eyes wide and in awe of Magic, this being that had just walked into his life.

"**Do you have something that can protect you from evil? Like a charm or an amulet?"**

"My father keeps a blue eye necklace somewhere in his bedside table," Duke points to a random wall, through which Amane assumes is his father's bedroom.

Magic's eyes close and his disappears, only to reappear seconds later with the necklace. He erupts into the burning shadow and the air _moves_ again as he actives the charm.

"**There. Now she can't come into this dwelling,"** he mutters, taking Duke hand and placing the charm in the center of his palm. Duke stumbles back in shock.

"Who the _hell_ are you?"

"**We've been called many things before, though personally, we prefer the name Magic. That name has…sentimental meanings to us,"** Magic glances over at Amane andshe goes utterly red.

"It's you! You're Ted – I mean, the guy that Amane was trying to say was Ted, but then you said he wasn't and he pretended to be your brother and then –" Tea stops speaking, only because she can not longer breathe. She takes a deep breath, points at Magic and shouts, "Sex god!"

Not for the first time, Magic is completely lost for words. Amane hides herself in her hands.

"Care to run that one by us again?" Serenity raises an eyebrow.

"**You called us a sex god?"** Magic looks far to excited than should be legal at the possibility that that statement might be true.

"No. That would be Tea. She called you that," she raised an eyebrow. "Would you stop smiling like that?"

"**We are not smiling. We are incapable of smiling."**

"Magic."

"**Yes, Amane?"**

"Stop it. Now."

"**Never."**

"What the fuck is happening?" Joey shouted again, "That's not…you're not…he's upstairs asleep! Who the fuck are you?"

"**Joey Wheeler the Liar, we are here for several reasons. One of those reasons is centered around you,"** Magic explains. **"Another one is to answer your questions and we will answer them all truthfully. Please, sit down. This news is something best taken while sitting."**

Magic then folds up his legs and proceeds to sit in the air again. It makes Serenity and Joey do a double take. Amane rolls her eyes, "One day, you're going to tell me how you do that."

"**We will. We promise. But now, we have more pressing matters,"** he sighs sadly.

"What do you mean, you're magic?" Serenity asks through nervous stutters, "I thought that magic was something that Bakura had – his powers."

"**When we created him, he was given an aura that could use those powers. But the flame of life comes from us,"** he presses a hand to his chest, addressing himself. **"We are the main consciousness, but there are parts of us everywhere in life, in this world. That's why we're able to sit like this; we're essentially sitting on our self…or something like that."**

"Are you God?" Her eyes were wide.

"**We've been called that before, but we don't like being addressed as such,"** Magic looked down, almost ashamed. **"If we were like the god you worship, then we would be able to stop this. No one would have to die."**

"You were that thing from before," Duke whispered. "You killed the second Gigas."

Magic nodded, but didn't speak.

"Why do you look like Ryou?" Tea asks.

He blinks, **"We don't look like Ryou Bakura. He looks like us."**

"Why?" She continues.

"**A tribute to an old friend who deserved better death than she received,"** he looked down at the ground. **"To be honest, it was almost a joke for us when we thought of it. We didn't realize that he would be so much stronger than we originally intended him to be. Bakura the King Killer was the second human to ever punch me in the face outside of a combat zone."**

"Who was the first?" Amane frowned.

"**Heavenly Sound, of course. When she woke up for the first time, she was…a little scared, to say the least,"** Magic's eyes took on a hazy look as he remembered his wife.

"You were going something creepy, weren't you?"

"**We didn't think that it was creepy at the time…"** he almost looked bashful. **"Obviously, she had other opinions."**

"How do you two even know each other?" Duke was attempting to sink himself into his seat.

Magic looks to Amane, silently asking if it was all right to tell. She smiles and intertwines her fingers with his.

"It's a bit of a long story," she tells them. They catch on very quickly.

"But, he looks like your _brother_," Tea has a very odd look on her face when she says that.

"I know," she holds her head high. She's not ashamed of it now. Amane loves Ryou, but she loves Magic too. She doesn't regret either of them.

"That's _wrong_," Joey spits. "Loving your brother is wrong. Why would you ever want to…do something like that?"

Amane is about to open her mouth and retort, but Magic beats her to it, **"You know exactly why she would do something like that."**

"What the hell are you on about?"

"**There is a reason we call you the Liar, Joey Wheeler. You are very good at hiding things, contrary to the beliefs of other people,"** Magic looks at him as if he's peering into Joey very soul (and part of her knows that he is). **"You know what it means to do something that you consider to be wrong."**

"I-I have no idea what you are talking about," Joey goes tense, his body coiled and ready to spring in a moment if it means getting away from here.

"**You know exactly what we are talking about, Joey Wheeler. And know this as well: there is nothing to be ashamed of. Why would we ever create someone with an innate 'wrongness' in them? We don't, because love is so much more than just a man and a woman,"** he sighs, stepping towards Joey and looking at him like a parent would to their child in a situation like this, sad yet very accepting. The truth begins to dawn on Amane as Magic continues to talk, **"Tristan Taylor wasn't **_**just**_** your friend, was he?"**

"Shut up! I'm not – I'm not what you're thinking! Get the fuck away from me! Get out of my head!" He pushes Magic away from him and backs away until he hits the wall.

"Joey?" Serenity stared at her brother like she'd never seen him before, "Joey, what's going on?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all! There was nothing –"

"Joey, are you gay?" Amane blurts out.

"NO!" He shouts back at her, but there is too much terror in her eyes for him to be telling the truth.

Surprisingly enough, it made so much sense that she doesn't know why she hadn't figured it out sooner. It explained why he'd never let go of Tristan, why they were always beside each other. Why Joey had been so terrible with the women he'd been with – he'd never felt any form of attraction to them in the first place. Why the man that had attacked them had mocked him with the word 'faggot'. Everything made sense.

"**You were in love with Tristan Taylor,"** Magic said. Duke's jaw drops.

"No way, that's…holy crap! That explains _everything_," he babbles to himself.

"I'm not gay!" Joey absolutely flips, raging and grabbing Magic by the collar, "You – you do something! Make them understand that! I'm not gay!"

"**He knew you weren't drunk the first time you kissed,"** he kept talking. **"The second time, Tristan wasn't drunk at all. That was a first for him, being sober and kissing a man."**

"Just shut up!" Joey's hands start to shake as his voice takes on a panicked tone.

"**Every time he saw you with a woman, he wanted to tear her away from you. Every time you told him that you weren't what you were, that you were just messing around, it hurt. Not because he wanted to come out, but because he knew that you hated yourself for what you were doing with him."**

"Just – just shut up. Please, god, just shut up!" He screams, his tremors spreading from his hands and taking over his entire body.

"**We can't tell the future, but we can see the possibilities that present themselves as options,"** Magic explains. **"He was going to go to Columbia to be with you. You would accept who you were in your second year and come out after you won the championship game. There would be people who wouldn't accept you, specifically the couch who tried to kick you off the team. But the entire team would get together and make sure that you didn't. You'd get support from your sister, your father.**

"**You'd find your mother and she'd come back and remarry your father. You'd get a second little sister and when she started to feel things for a girl that she meets in class, you'd give her the help that you'd never allowed yourself to receive.**

"**Joey, that was supposed to be your life. It's not going to be anymore,"** Magic gently pried his hands from his shirt. **"But we're going to tell you something and we want you to remember it: Tristan loved you just as much as you loved him. And there is nothing wrong with loving someone. Nothing at all."**

Joey looks at him like he can't believe his eyes. The boy's hands are trembling so badly that his fingers are nothing more than blurs. And Magic does the only sensible thing at this moment and pulls him into a hug.

The jock turns to stone, unable to comprehend what's going on. He doesn't know what to do, how to act in this situation. But then something seems to happen to Joey's face – his mask cracks, crumbles, and finally disappears all together and he cries for the loss of Tristan on the shoulder of Magic.

It reminds Amane of a story that she read once about a man on a beach with God, how that man looks back and sees that during the toughest points of his life there was only one set of footprints. She remembers how instead of leaving that man, God had lifted him up and carried him until he was able to walk again.

And when she sees Magic and Joey together, Amane truly understands what he had meant by being the father of all of humanity. Joey is his child and in pain and like any parent, Magic has reached out with a comforting hand to tell him that everything is all right.

She sees this and wonders what it would be like to be a mother.

* * *

><p>Magic pulls one of his books from his library and hands it to Joey not long after he calms down. He explains just what is in one of those things and then tells him that it's Tristan's. Joey holds the book as if he's terrified that it will fall apart if he breathes on it wrong.<p>

After that Magic turns to her and asks her if she would go and check on Ryou upstairs. Amane frowns, but when he lets out a little whine that tells her that he _really_ needs her not to hear this, she leaves the room.

Ryou is resting in Duke's room, upon the usual occupant insistence. It looks like he's been tossing around and has tangled himself in the sheets. He mutters something in his sleep and snuggles deeper into his covers.

Amane grabs a chair and pulls it over to the side of the bed. She looks over what she can see of him for any injuries. His hands don't look like they've been cut up while he was fighting. And the angry cut that had poured blood down his face was gone. She reaches out and touches his face gently. He makes a little sound, almost completely disappearing under the duvet.

And she makes a decision right there. He needs to know.

She doesn't know how long she sat there staring at him. She does know when Magic decided to appear. He places his chin on her head and sighs.

"He's asleep and he's not a morning person. I don't know if you'll be able to wake him up,"she tells him.

"**He's not sleeping. He's talking to Dark God right now. Both of them are quite shaken up by what they saw in each other when they merged. Touzoku is managing, but his mind is much more solid,"** Magic explains. **"He's shaken, too, but he will be fine."**

"Still: good luck waking him up," Amane ducks out from under him and leaves the chair free for Magic. He sits down as she moves away, giving a command to Ryou to make up.

"Five more minutes…" Ryou groans. He sounds so adorable that she lets out a giggle.

"I told you. He's not a morning person," she tries to hold back a smile.

"**We can see that. Still, he needs to wake up. We don't know how much longer we can hold this form."**

Amane takes a good look at him and she can see that he's simply _exhausted_. She doesn't think that he's ever seen him so tried before. In fact, if she looked close enough, she would swear that Magic has aged. His face is lined and there are black circles under his eyes.

Ryou wakes up suddenly, incredibly panicked and tense. Magic raises his hand in greeting, **"Hello. How nice of you to join us in the world of the living."**

Ryou leaps a foot in the air, but he's too tangled in the sheets to do anything properly. Amane figures that it is a strange contradiction with the warrior that had walked the streets last night and it makes her laugh.

"I'm sorry. It's just things have been so gloomy and I just needed to see that," Amane tries to stop when Ryou scowls at her.

He turns to Magic, "Who the hell are you?"

Doesn't this sound familiar?

"Um, well. Ryou? This is Magic," she introduces him.

Magic and Ryou talk, going back and forth for a while, about what Magic had been doing. At one point, Ryou asks about the 'numbers', reminding her of all the casualties that have occurred since the night began. Just when Amane thinks that she's had enough, Magic's arms are around her shoulders.

"**Amane,"** he whispers her name in her ear. **"Don't cry. Please, don't cry."**

But then he pulls away, listening to something far away, **"The Commander is coming to check on you again. We need to go. But before we do, listen: nineteen thousand years ago, we started to write a book. We never got to finish it because of the second Cut Off, so we hid it. Find it. It's the best hope you've got."**

And then he's gone, disappeared into thin air. Seto Kaiba walks in and tells Ryou to come downstairs in thirty minutes for a meeting. He shuts the door with a click.

Amane decides that this has gone on long enough. It's time to come clean.

"I suppose I owe you an explanation," she hopes that he doesn't ask what she's talking about. She doesn't know if she'll be able to admit it twice.

But she has nothing to fear as he responds "Kind of" and starts to pull nervously at the fabric of the duvet he's been sleeping in.

Amane sits back down in the chair, slowly building up her courage to just get it out, to finally say it after years of hiding the truth.

"I didn't know that you were my brother until we were eleven years old," she doesn't even remember giving her mouth the orders to say that, but that's what comes out.

"Oh."

Honestly, Amane's just glad that she hadn't shocked him back into his mini-coma with those words.

She just starts to babble, "Mom and dad never told me." Oh god, her parents! Andrew would remember what she said during pro! She has to figure out what to do about him. "I didn't know. I honestly didn't know. And then, when we were dancing at the family reunion –"

He cuts her off, "What did Maxinne say?"

Her heart skips a beat, "You never heard?"

Oh, this is too horrible. Had he never known why she left him? Had it just been a mystery what she had turned on him for all these years? It would have made no sense to him at all.

"No," he shakes his head. "I knew that she said something, but I didn't know what."

God, he's never known. "I thought you knew. That's why I blamed you, because I thought…she said 'Don't you think those two are a bit close for brother and sister?' It was the first time I'd heard us called that. I didn't know. I'm so sorry."

Ryou looks shocked, but not for the reasons that she would expect. He tries to understand how this was even possible, "I don't understand. Why me? I'm – I'm your brother, that doesn't make sense as to why you would ever want me."

"You asked me to marry you."

"I was a kid! You were a kid!"

"I believed you," she can't even look him in the eye. "You called me pretty. You wanted to be with me. Together forever. When I heard Maxinne, I thought that you'd been tricking me. I was just so mad at the world and I wasn't thinking straight. I never should have left you, Ryou. I'm so sorry. I've been so horrible to you."

His mind seems to start making connections, "I wasn't boy-repellant, was I?"

"No."

"You tried to kiss me once. On the couch."

"Yes. That was around the time Magic started visiting me. I thought he was you. I thought we were together."

His jaw starts to flap, with nonsense sounds coming out of this mouth. Amane doesn't think he gets it just yet. So she does the only thing she can.

"Ryou," his gaze snaps to hers and she sees the moonlit ghost in him again. He's scared, he's confused, but at the same time he _needed_ her to be there because there was something in there, hidden inside.

Amane pulls him to her and kisses him, kisses Ryou. And it's not sweet and simple, no. This is a _kiss_. Its soft and slow and meaningful, but something is wrong.

And then he does something that throws her entire world into whack. She feels a slight touch, hesitant brush of skin against skin, his hand against her cheek. Then she feels pressure against her lips and Amane realizes that Ryou is actually _enjoying_ this. He likes it when she kisses her.

She pulls away, "What was that?"

"I don't know," his voice is shaking as he speaks.

"You didn't push me away," holy crap! Does he actually feel something for her other than brotherly affection? But there's something wrong with this situation.

"I don't know why I did that," Ryou looks at his hand like he can't believe that its there.

Amane realizes what's wrong with this entire situation, "You're eyes don't change colour. I wanted them to change colour."

"They're not going to anytime soon," he tells her.

They stare at each other, disbelieving that this could be happening at all. And then it just slips out.

"This is so weird," they both say at the same time and it makes them both laugh. Amane doubles over at one point, clutching her stomach and grabbing Ryou's knee for support. He rests his head on her shoulder, complaining that it hurts to breathe and his ribs are attempting to murder him. She pulls back and his grin is infectious.

"We good?" She asks.

"Yeah. We're good," he tells her and Amane realizes something else. In that smile of his, she doesn't see the moonlit ghost. She doesn't see the dark phantom or the free spirit. Not even the fallen god has made an appearance. No, the person who is in front of her is so much stronger, so much more powerful and wise and absolutely amazing than any of those people.

The person who sits before her is a Necromancer born in the image of Magic, who's immortal soul had been shattered into pieces so long ago, who's walked the earth for over a millennia and who has never stopped fighting the Orichalcos – not once – that entire time.

That person is Ryou Bakura and Amane is proud to know this man as one of her greatest friends.

And she loves him for that.

* * *

><p>Ryou's disappearing. He's going to leave Domino City and never come back. Someone named Noah is going to delete his entire history and he's going to become as ghostlike as the spirits he helps to move on passed death.<p>

Amane knows where those spirits go. She wonders what will happen to her when she finally dies. She's neither Normal nor Other, so where would she go or what would she turn into?

After Ryou accepts to the terms, Seto Kaiba turns to her, "And then there is the final matter at hand. Amane Bakura, you told your father that you knew about your brother. You openly sided with Bakura against him."

Amane knows exactly where this is going. She's figured it out alright. She stands up, squaring her shoulders and prepares to be hit by the news, "Yes, sir."

"You can't return either."

It isn't much of a punch in the gut as it is a small poke in the kidneys. She knew that this was coming and honestly, she doesn't want to live in a house with that _murderer_ sleeping down the corridor from her bedroom.

"I figured as much," those words come out bitter and harsh.

"I know what you are, Ms. Bakura. I can't see into your mind," Amane feels a bit of pressure on the walls of her mind, but refuses to make a movement – even as her eyes begin to water. "An Abnormal; the only one in existence. We could use someone like you."

"My mind is completely impregnable, so whatever secrets I learn stay with me no matter what. I'm also really good at computer hacking, if you need someone like that," not that she needs to tell them that last bit. Her alter-ego gh05twr1tt3r is a bit famous at KaibaCorp.

Then one of the men suggests his concern that her father – Andrew – would continue to look for her, especially if she just disappeared without a trace.

"He won't if I'm dead," she responds. As her friends burst out in opposition, Amane growls, "He pointed a gun at Ryou's head. Let him think that the explosion that he helped set off was what killed his daughter. Let him explain that to mom."

Her hands shake with anger. She wants to go up to that bastard of a man and point a gun at _his_ head, just to see how she likes it. Honestly, Amane hopes that she could come back one day after all this is done, just to see the look on his face when he realizes that she's been on Ryou's side all along.

And then the topic changes to something called the Thousand Spell Book. The weirdest thing is: Amane feels like she's heard of that Book before. She can't tell where or how or why she knows about it, but she does. When she gets her laptop back, she's going to check her Internet history for it.

The Resistance thinks that the Thousand Spell Book has something to do with Heavenly Sound. She feels a strange pull towards that woman, if she wants to do nothing but find her. Amane realizes seconds later that this was incredibly odd, especially for her. She'd once wanted to brutally murder any woman who ever looked at Ryou in a way that could revolve around the idea of attraction. But this woman, this Heavenly Sound, used to be Magic's _wife_. Why did she not feel jealous at all?

But there's a big problem: Heavenly Sound is dead. Amane tells them this and gets nods of acknowledgement around the table.

"I'm supposed to be dead," Ryou says. "Maybe someone tried to resurrect her, like you did me." He looks at Atem, addressing her with his burning eyes.

"Or maybe it's a map to her grave and there's something hidden in her bones," the Immortal frowns. "Maybe her bones themselves are the answer."

A few more theories are thrown into the air before Ryou speaks about the time limit: two years. They've got two years to get their hands on the Thousand Spell Book or the war's going to end and its not going to be in their favour.

"We know," Seto Kaiba says ominously. "There's another thing. It is said that Heavenly Sound will decide who will win the war, so we're not the only ones looking for her and our enemy is a step ahead of us already. If we're going to pull this off, then we're going to have to do it soon. We cannot allow Heavenly Sound to fall into the hands of the Orichalcos."

* * *

><p>Alexis Rhodes, teammate and friend of Chazz, lends her some clothes because Amane's are all in her room at home, so far out of her reach. Then a man with a blonde mohawk gives her the number of a squad captain, asking if she wanted to take the position of their techie.<p>

Just before the Normals start to head down to the truck that's going to sneak them into the hospital, Tea finds her and sits down.

"This is really happening, isn't it?" The girl asks her.

"Yeah. This isn't a dream," Amane tells her.

"Damn," Tea swears half-heartedly. "I kind of wish it was."

"I know. I know," she reaches forwards and holds her best friend's hand.

Tea closes her eyes and sighs, "You have to stay in contact with us. I don't care how – use those hacker powers that you've managed to keep quiet about – but just do it. You're dropping off the radar to hide from your parents and that Ori-thing, not us."

Amane doesn't know what to say to that, so she nods and tightens her grip.

"Did you ever wonder why I approached you that day at school? The day we became friends?" Tea asks.

"No. You never told me why," she frowns in thought.

"I knew that you were hiding from something – something big. And I was, too. I thought that we could hide together," she laughs, but there is no humour. "Who knew that we would end up like this?"

"This isn't the end, Tea. In two years, all of this will be over," Amane tries to smile, but can't. "Just two years. Just wait it out for two years."

"Then you'll come back? After two years?"

She nods, "Of course I will."

Amane doesn't know if she telling the truth or lying through her teeth, but she knows those are the words that Tea needs to hear right now. She hopes that she's telling the truth, she really does. But she still doesn't know.

* * *

><p>The funeral feels like an oxymoron. Thirty students, barely reaching into adulthood, died and the sun is shining. The birds are singing, the sky is blue, and their murderer is mourning them like the sadistic asshole that he is.<p>

Ryou is being difficult. Amane can tell that he still thinks that the man can be saved, but she doesn't believe that. Even if he could be, she'd never forgive him for this. Never ever ever.

Ryou's going to be staying with his friend Marik for the rest of the summer. Amane's called the captain and is going to meet her at some place called Area 51. The woman's name is Vivian Wong, she's a Normal but that doesn't mean anything really. Normals are able to fight just as well as any Other. Without their help, Ryou would have been road kill.

Atem appears behind them as the funeral comes to an end. Ryou picks her up and leaps down from the roof they've been sitting on. When they get close enough, he drops the Invisibility spell that he cast over them earlier.

Immediately, Tea questions them for even being there. She's worried for their safety, but Ryou has something he needs to do before he goes.

This is a time of goodbyes, not just her Amane and him, but for two other people as well.

It's the first time she's seen Ryou actually use his Necromancy powers and its awe inspiring to see the very thing that keeps the cycle of life going. To know what he's doing, to see it in action, is incredible.

And then Tristan Taylor is standing amongst them once more.

"Is it really you?" Joey whispers.

"Yeah. It's me," it seems like years have passed since she last heard Tristan's voice, but in reality, he's only been dead for less than two days.

Joey just lets loose, "It wasn't just messing around to me. It stopped being that a long time ago."

"I know, you idiot. I guess we're out of the closet now," Tristan grins.

Duke tells him that they wouldn't have cared if they'd come out. Miho stutters through a tearful admission of her crush. Tristan tells her that he liked her too, but she just wasn't Joey.

Then he turns to the spiritual form of Ryou who's standing not far away. He's completely see-through, with the exception of a single red flame that burned in the center of his chest.

"So what happens now?" Tristan questions.

"Well, whenever the guilt that's holding you back is gone, you'll be sent onwards," Ryou answers him.

"It is going to hurt?"

"I don't think so. It's going to look like you're on fire, but it won't hurt."

"So when does that – mhnn!"

Amane's never seen two men kiss before. When she first heard that men could love other men, she believed that maybe they kissed differently. But honestly, it looked the exact same as when a man and a woman did it. The same love was there, the same caring; the same desperation was there. It made all those arguments against homosexuality seem so petty and idiotic – this wasn't a different kind of love. It was the exact same.

Magic was right: there was so much more to love than just a man and a woman.

Joey pulls away and whispers, "I love you, Tristan."

Tristan returns it – "I love you, too, Joey" – and then he's on fire. The same flames that live inside of Ryou surround him and then he's gone.

Tristan Taylor is gone. He's with God now.

Ryou drops to his knees, his soul back in his body. Joey backs away and gazes upwards at the sky. For the first time in days, Amane sees a smile spread across his face. She realizes that she doesn't mind the sun anymore.

* * *

><p>The next day, Amane talks to her new captain about her duties as a member of their crew. Vivian is an odd combination between a loudmouth partier and a hipster. She's also a very open, very proud lesbian and made sure that Amane had no problem with that.<p>

"You see, I can't have people who are unable to work with me on my team? Can't have you messing crap up for the others because you've got a problem with me."

Amane has no problem, especially not after Joey and Tristan.

After that, she gets her new apartment outfitted with the latest tech. Then she makes a trip to a small shop on the outskirts of town that sells talismans and amulets. The eastern European man behind the counter stares at her strangely for a few minutes when she walks in, but makes no comment when she practically clears out his store.

The building where she lives now isn't ratty or anything, but it's not high class either. Amane doesn't know when the place was last renovated, but there's no mold and the water is always hot when she needs it to be. The lights don't flicker, there are no mice or insects, and all and all, it's a nice place to stay.

But it's not Domino City. She can't believe she's saying this, but she misses home.

Amane walks up the stairs, greeting her landlady, Dorothy, as the older woman makes her way down with her shopping cart. Dorothy knew her as Rebecca Hawkins, an exchange student from the UK (Amane thought that that name would be appropriate, given Ryou's attachment to the little girl). She continues her way up to the fourth floor, took a left at the corner and walking straight down until she reached the number fifty.

She puts the key in the lock, turns it and opens the door. She dumps her bag and jacket on the small table by the front and walks in, planning to head straight to her computer to begin her work when she notices that she's not alone.

"**Do you know how difficult you've made it for anything to get in here?"** Magic pokes one of her dream catchers that she's hung on the ceiling. **"Even we had a hard time getting in."**

"Is this a social call or is something big going to happen again?" Amane smiles cheekily at him, eying the contents of the plastic bag that in her hand. She'd made a trip to the pharmacy just for this kind of occasion.

"**It's a social call,"** he says as he comes down to her level, hands casually tucked into his pockets. His changing eyes are bright and he looks at her like he's in love with her.

"Good," she reaches in the bag and tosses the box of condoms at him. "The bed needs breaking in. Care to help with that?"

Magic stares at the box with wide eyes as she turns around and slinks towards her bedroom, leaving a trail of clothes behind her. She doesn't worry about him not following. She knows that he will.

Magic will always follow her, just as Amane will always follow him.

**"Amane, there are _a lot_ of these things in here."**

"I know, Magic. _I know_."

To the end.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello all!<strong>

**As this is the final chapter of The Abnormal, I'd like to thank all those who have ever reviewed for this story:**

**Malik'sStalker, Coolaloo, heartsneverfall, olivia, ilovemanicures, Poprocks311, Dantemew, Yuui, Eb-Iv-Rachel-Liz-Ali-Tonia, VivienneLaFaye, xXAnachronIsmEpsIceXx, and zukofan2005.**

**Thank you all so very much for your love and support! I couldn't have done this without you.**

**Sorry, it took you so long to get this up. I've been getting some writer's block lately and it took me a while to get the first chapter of The Second Year out. I must have re-written that first second at least five times. But lucky for you all, now that it is done, I'd like to give you all a preview of what is to come. And for those of you who are fans of Amane, this section has her in it.**

"Wow. You're not only vertical, but also awake before eight in the morning. Who are you and what have you done with Ryou?" My sister teased me as she came into the kitchen. I was sitting at the table as Marik's older brother, Odion, started to come down the stairs.

"I've kidnapped him and am currently holding him hostage," I joked, taking a sip of a wonderful drink that I had discovered over the summer holidays: coffee. It was like the afternoon in liquid form.

"And what do I have to do to get him back?" Amane grinned and played along.

I held up the front page of the newspaper, "Explain exactly how this got into the hands of the media."

Splashed across the front page were the words: THE RACE FOR NEW YORK STATE TURNS DIRTY. Under it was a picture of one of the runners in the election with his hand up the shirt of a girl who couldn't be older than thirteen.

"He shouldn't have kept the photo on his hard drive in a folder labeled 'Porn'," she grabbed the paper from me, skimming over the article underneath. "He's dropping out of the race, that good for nothing – son of a bitch! What do you mean they're not pressing charges? He's got his hand up her shirt! What more proof do you want?"

"That's the American government for you. Unreliable to the point of stupidity," I rolled my eyes and snatched the paper back.

"And fueled by Orichalcos stones. I am sooo draining his account and making an anonymous donation to World Vision. And then I think I'm going to buy myself some new boots," she sighed, tilting her head to read the comics on the back page. Odion sighed lightly at our antics before shoving some bread into the toaster.

**Hopefully, that will tide you over until I post the first chapter.**

**Until then, my darlings,**

**AlcatrazOutpatient**


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